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Details
St Paul's Church
32a Wilton Place
Knightsbridge
London
SW1X 8SH
England
Programme
Gabriel Fauré – Cantique de Jean Racine, Op.11
Gabriel Fauré – Requiem, Op.48 (1883)
Gabriel Fauré – Elegie for cello and organ
Maurice Duruflé – Notre Père, Op.14
Maurice Duruflé – Requiem, Op.9
Performers
Richard Thomas – Conductor
William Fairbairn – organ
Katie Macdonald – mezzo-soprano
Joseph Chalmers – baritone
Rebecca Hepplewhite – Cello
Tredici Chamber Choir
Other concerts in this Series (+)
Programme Note
Tredici’s 100th concert coincides with the centenary of Gabriel Fauré’s death. Hence this match made in heaven: his much-loved Requiem alongside Maurice Duruflé’s, accompanied by the magnificent 4-manual Willis organ of St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge. These supremely luminous works, separated by 60 years, eschew the terrors of the Last Judgement in favour of tenderness, intimacy and consolation. Yet, for all their similarities, they differ paradoxically in musical language. Faure’s melodic lyricism inspired a huge body of music but in the 19th century he was considered ‘dangerously progressive’; while Durufle’s lifelong devotion to Gregorian tradition suffuses his fastidiously limited output with the voice of eternity, plainsong.
The second half of the concert begins with the Fauré’s Élégie - arranged for cello and organ. It is one of the composer's most-loved works, full of emotion, anguish and power.
The programme also includes a miniature choral masterpiece by both composers - respectively their first and last - the Cantique de Jean Racine and a setting of the Lord’s Prayer.
