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Details
St John's Smith Square
Smith Square
City of Westminster
London
SW1P 3HA
England
Programme
Gabriel Fauré – Requiem, Op.48 (ed. John Rutter)
Maurice Duruflé – Requiem, Op.9
Boulanger Lili – Pie Jesu
Performers
Jack Apperley – Conductor
Richard Gowers – organ
Alex Bower-Brown – baritone
Lily Platts – soprano
Rosamund Thomas – soprano
Goldsmiths Choral Union
Affinity Chamber Orchestra
Programme Note
A fabulously optimistic concert featuring three Parisian composers. The Fauré and Duruflé Requiem masses are linked by Lili Boulanger’s haunting setting of Pie Jesu. This music can’t fail to raise the spirits as we mark the first day of Spring.
The requiem masses of Fauré and Duruflé are distinctly optimistic in character. They both paint a picture of a welcoming heaven and a forgiving God. Fauré’s requiem was completed in 1890, Duruflé’s in 1947. Lili Boulanger (the sister of Nadia Boulanger) died in 1918 aged 24. She had a short but notably successful career, becoming the first woman to win the prestigious Prix de Rome composition competition. In this concert, spanning the Parisian music scene over 60 years, Lili Boulanger’s haunting Pie Jesu is the link between the two well-loved choral works.
