REQUIEM / FOUR MOTETS MESSE CUM JUBILO

Patricia Bardon (contralto), Ashley Riches (baritone) & The Choir of King's College Cambridge & Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Stephen Cleobury

Maurice Duruflé was een buitengewoon zelfkritisch componist wiens oeuvre ondanks een lang leven slechts 14 composities omvat. Zijn beroemdste werk, het Requiem op. 9, werd gecomponeerd in 1947. Net als het Requiem van zijn landgenoot Fauré, laat het de dramatische opeenvolging van het Dies irae achterwege en legt het eerder de nadruk op de lyrische en troostende aspecten van een requiemmis. In tegenstelling tot Fauré hield Duruflé zich in zijn compositie meer aan de thema's en motieven van de gregoriaanse dodenmis. Het koor van King's College Cambridge en het Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment presenteren het werk hier voor het eerst op historische instrumenten.

For this new recording the choir are reunited with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment to perform Maurice Duruflé’s 1947 'Requiem', in the composer’s own version for soprano, choir, organ and small orchestra. The album is completed with the 'Messe Cum Jubilo' for male voices and the Four Motets, mirroring Fauré’s 'Messe Basse' for boys on the earlier album, to which this is very much a partner.

The most famous of the Four Motets is 'Ubi Caritas' (‘Where charity and love are, God is there), a staple of the choir’s Easter repertoire and which was sung at Downing Street when the choir attended the Prime Minister’s Easter reception in 2013.

The choir is joined by Patricia Bardon, youngest ever prize-winner of the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, for the 'Pie Jesu' of the Requiem, with the other solo sections sung by the men of the choir in accordance with Duruflé’s instructions. Former choral scholar Ashley Riches, also a former member of the Royal Opera House Jette Parker Young Artists programme, returns to the choir as soloist in the 'Messe Cum Jubilo'.

This recording represents the last time the organ at King’s was played before it was removed for substantial restoration.

Duruflé:
 Requiem, Op. 9
 Messe Cum Jubilo, Op. 11
 Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens, Op. 10
 Tantum ergo, Op. 10 No. 4
 Tota pulchra es, Op. 10 No. 2
 Tu es Petrus, Op. 10 No. 3
 Ubi caritas, Op. 10 No. 1

"The unaccompanied Quatre Motets are neatly presented, if a touch glib and emotionally reticent. Probably the best performance here is of the Messe Cum Jubilo for baritones, where the singers’ familiarity with plainchant is again telling…there’s plenty of fire and interpretive detail in the singing. "
BBC Music Magazine - Christmas 2016 ****

"The choir and the King’s organ (played by Tom Etheridge) are beautifully caught in the famously generous chapel acoustics, tender and lyrical one moment, splendid and grand the next … the men of the choir produce a consistently warm, well-focused sound. A fine addition to the Duruflé discography and to King’s College’s expanding library of own-label recordings."
Choir & Organ - November/December 2016

"The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge and Stephen Cleobury opt for the 1961 edition, joining forces with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and soloist Patricia Bardon (the baritone solos are performed by unison basses). The effect is often hazily beautiful, chords suspended in the air of King’s Chapel."
Gramophone Magazine - December 2016