Symphony “Chernobyl”, Part II: Quo vadis?

Mikael Tariverdiev — Symphony “Chernobyl,” Part II: Quo vadis

This recording forms Part II of the fourth chapter in my organ series The Eternal Sigh: An Exploration of Grief, Suffering, Loss, & Hope, which traces a dramatic arc through organ repertoire spanning centuries:
Lament → Struggle → Resignation → Catastrophe (and now Bewilderment) → Transcendence.

After the inward grief of Frescobaldi, the turbulent struggle of Bruhns, and the quiet resignation of Brahms, the narrative expands from personal sorrow to historical, man-made tragedy on a civilizational scale. This second and final movement follows the devastation of The Zone, where catastrophe has already unfolded. What remains is not action, but aftermath: a landscape of silence, disorientation, and unanswered questions.

Quo vadis (“Where are you going?”) carries layered meanings. It echoes the early Christian tradition in which Peter, fleeing Rome, encounters Christ and asks this question. It recalls Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel of the same name, set amid the collapse and moral uncertainty of Nero’s Rome. In Tariverdiev’s context, it becomes a question posed to those who survive catastrophe. Today, it resonates equally within the broader crises of the modern world.

In each case, trial by fire precedes the question: Rome burned, Chernobyl exploded, and our present world continues to overheat. What follows is a moment of reckoning. That reckoning is made manifest in this movement.

Within this series, Quo vadis represents the stage of bewilderment: the moment after destruction, when direction is lost and meaning must be sought anew.