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Post by MartinT on Mar 31, 2017 7:07:28 GMT
Duruflé - Requiem, Shaw, Atlanta SO, Telarc (1990)
I started enjoying Requiems as a specific musical format a long time ago. Sadness always makes for the best music but there is a special significance to celebrating or mourning the death of someone. How do you respond? In anger, like Mozart, big and operatically, like Verdi, or with sadness, like Fauré or Duruflé, my selection for Album Choice here? Written in 1947, there is a sense of melancholy to Duruflé's composition which I have not heard in any other piece, despite the obvious and regular comparisons with the more well known Fauré. However, that could suggest that there is a lack of power to Duruflé's work which is not the case at all. Having heard performances live, it is quite magnificent with enormous climaxes in the Sanctus, for instance.
Unfortunately, this recording, my favourite, is not on Spotify but I have been able to find a section on YouTube here. Being a Telarc disc, it's very wide bandwidth with thrilling choral cresdendi and a very potent organ with some incredibly deep pedal notes. Shaw plays the Pie Jesu as a choral, rather than solo, performance which works well and makes for an interesting comparison with some of the other recordings I have.
Let it grow on you; fall into it and you may start appreciating its astonishing beauty, sadness and moments of anger.
For me, this Requiem is a desert island disc and a must-have in any classical collection.
Here's an alternative performance of the whole piece.
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Post by jandl100 on Mar 31, 2017 7:21:06 GMT
You need another voting option, an option 0 - "I puked up"  There's something about the Durufle Requiem that sets my teeth on edge. Maybe it's a "20thC French composer of a certain school" thing - I can't stand most of Poulenc's music, either. The Faure, though, also on that Telarc recording, is a masterwork, but I have heard performances that I prefer to Shaw (there's loads of recordings out there). |
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Post by MartinT on Mar 31, 2017 7:25:13 GMT
Shame that, Jerry, but each to their own. We don't seem to agree much on classical music  EDIT: I love Poulenc, too, and seem to remember your taking a poor view of his wonderful Stabat Mater! |
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Post by jandl100 on Mar 31, 2017 7:35:43 GMT
Seldom has a truer word been said. The areas of overlap are minimal indeed!
Chris Stratmangler will soon be the happy owner of the TAS giveaway Telarc CD that I bought on your recommendation.
EDIT - see edited version of my 1st post!
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Post by MartinT on Mar 31, 2017 7:36:46 GMT
That's very timely, I look forward to his findings.
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Post by MartinT on Mar 31, 2017 7:37:44 GMT
EDIT - see edited version of my 1st post! I did - this is for you. I live in hope! |
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Post by jandl100 on Mar 31, 2017 7:41:37 GMT
I'll give it a go!
btw TASers, don't be put of by my negativity - different strokes for different folks, and all that!
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Post by julesd68 on Mar 31, 2017 13:11:13 GMT
Well it's an easy 5 for the work, but I don't know this particular recording so will have to listen again .. This is the version I have on Argo -  |
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Post by julesd68 on Mar 31, 2017 13:12:03 GMT
You need another voting option, an option 0 - "I puked up" There's something about the Durufle Requiem that sets my teeth on edge. So does that mean you didn't like it Jerry?  |
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Post by jandl100 on Mar 31, 2017 13:15:12 GMT
Well, I ain't exactly sitting on the fence. |
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2017 9:42:01 GMT
Really quite like this, I chose 4/5 as I found it very relaxing and tuneful.
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Post by Slinger on May 11, 2017 15:33:26 GMT
I'll give it 3, and another listen at another time. So far it does nothing for me and the word "nice" springs to mind, but spoken with little enthusiasm.
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Post by MartinT on May 12, 2017 6:15:51 GMT
I find it fascinating how differently people respond to this requiem. For me, it is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written, even shading the Faure, while the two performances I have seen remain two of the best concerts I have ever attended.
Yet for some, it does nothing. Music remains ever mysterious!
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Post by julesd68 on Apr 2, 2022 21:40:00 GMT
Delighted to find this recording eventually made it to Spotify so will be looking forward to cranking this ...
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Post by MartinT on Apr 2, 2022 21:51:24 GMT
Gadzooks, it's turned up on Qobuz, too! This is one of my all-time favourite classical pieces and I love the recording, especially when those ultra-low pedals kick in. I shall have another listen tomorrow. Thanks, Jules! open.qobuz.com/album/lahrelucddkbb |
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Post by julesd68 on Apr 2, 2022 21:56:20 GMT
Great, let me know how it sounds!
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Post by jandl100 on Apr 3, 2022 5:36:38 GMT
Well, I guess I can give the piece another go. The only direction my score can change is upwards!
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Post by jandl100 on Apr 3, 2022 6:32:34 GMT
This is strange and curious.
I no longer hear anything at all to arouse vehement displeasure.
Listening on headphones I'm not getting the full benefit of the doubtless mighty Telarc organ sound (I'll play it again later on the big rig) but in the immortal words of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, it now seems mostly harmless.
Quite pleasant, even. I wouldn't have guessed it was French, but I suspect the hand of Robert Shaw in that. More of a generalist conductor than idiomatic, as a rule, in my experience.
I may well be trying other recordings today.
I've upped my score to 3 for now.
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Post by jandl100 on Apr 3, 2022 6:56:57 GMT
This is quite interesting. I browsed through the Duruffle Requiems looking for one with French performers. I chose this one - it looks very French. Listen to the release Requiem by Didier Henry on Qobuz open.qobuz.com/album/0730099419628Quite a different presentation from Shaw and his fellow Americans, as I'd expected. It sounds rather more interesting this way. Gone is the Anglican blandness, they actually sound involved with it all. |
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Post by MartinT on Apr 3, 2022 11:21:13 GMT
That's reassuring, Jerry. I couldn't understand how you could so vehemently dislike it.
The best performance of the Durufle I ever experienced was by Marin Allsop at the Festival Hall and she practically took the roof off in the crescendi. The only disappointment was the feeble, as always, Festival Hall organ.
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