Music for Remembrance

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This is an exquisite performance of the Durufle Requiem...The playing of the Britten Sinfonia is superb, Robert Quinney's fluid, immensely colourful organ-playing a joy to behold and Roderick... — Gramophone Magazine, November 2014 More…

Release Date: 29th Sep 2014
Catalogue No: CDA68020
Label: Hyperion
Length: 74 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Duruflé: Requiem, Op. 9

Work length37:53

$9.90

$13.50

$18.45

Roderick Williams (baritone), Robert Quinney (organ), Christine Rice (mezzo-soprano), Caroline Dearnley (cello)
Westminster Abbey Choir, Britten Sinfonia
James O’Donnell

I. Introït

Track length3:27

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

II. Kyrie

Track length3:28

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

III. Domine Jesu Christe

Track length8:00

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

IV. Sanctus

Track length3:17

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

V. Pie Jesu

Track length3:31

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

VI. Agnus Dei

Track length3:41

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

VII. Lux aeterna

Track length4:01

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

VIII. Libera me

Track length5:23

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

IX. In paradisum

Track length3:05

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Vaughan Williams: Lord, Thou has been our refuge

Work length8:19

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Paul Archibald (trumpet), Robert Quinney (organ)
Westminster Abbey Choir
James O’Donnell

Moore, P: Three Prayers of Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Work length15:11

$3.30

$4.50

$6.15

David Martin (countertenor)
Westminster Abbey Choir
James O’Donnell

I. Morning prayers

Track length6:25

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

II. Prayers in the time of distress

Track length4:03

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

III. Evening prayers

Track length4:43

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Howells: Take him, earth, for cherishing

Work length8:28

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Westminster Abbey Choir
James O’Donnell

Tavener: The peace that surpasseth understanding

Work length5:05

$1.10

$1.50

$2.05

Robert Quinney (organ)
Westminster Abbey Choir
James O’Donnell

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About

This latest album from Westminster Abbey is a programme of memorial music composed in England and France in the shadow of two World Wars.

The main feature is Duruflé’s Requiem, one of the best-loved of all works of the twentieth century, and given an astoundingly beautiful performance here, enhanced by distinguished soloists Christine Rice and Roderick Williams.

The Requiem is many ways a paradoxical work, based on plainsong but with Durufle’s sensuous harmonies suffusing every note with feeling: ‘This Requiem is not an ethereal work which sings of detachment from human concerns’, he said. ‘It reflects, in the unchanging form of Christian prayer, the anguish of man faced with the mystery of his final end.’ It is a work of unimpeachable integrity, a miraculous synthesis of the old and the new.

Throughout the past century the Abbey has been a focus of national remembrance on Armistice Day, and ‘O God, our help in ages past’—the ‘great ceremonial hymn of the English nation’, quoted in Vaughan Williams’ Lord, thou has been our refuge—has been a constant and reassuring presence, from the Burial Service of the Unknown Warrior on 11 November 1920 to the Service commemorating the Passing of the World War One Generation on 11 November 2009. The anthem by John Tavener recorded here was composed for that service, and all the other English music has some special significance in this place: a statue of Dietrich Bonhoeffer stands above the west door of Westminster Abbey (one of the ten twentieth-century Christian martyrs installed in the niches there in 1998), while the ashes of Herbert Howells and Ralph Vaughan Williams are buried in the church where their music has contributed so much to daily services and great state occasions.

Reviews

November 2014

This is an exquisite performance of the Durufle Requiem...The playing of the Britten Sinfonia is superb, Robert Quinney's fluid, immensely colourful organ-playing a joy to behold and Roderick Williams a supremely compelling baritone soloist...O'Donnell moulds and shapes every moment with infinite care...as a beautiful listening experience it is in a class of its own.

7th November 2014

The two soloists are excellent. Roderick Williams shows his usual sensitivity not just to the music but also to the text...The Westminster choir gives a fine account of the wonderful, eloquent Howells anthem...
James O’Donnell’s excellent choir is on top form throughout this recital.

9th November 2014

Roderick Williams features widely in remembrance recordings this year...and here in Duruflé’s transcendent Requiem, his beautiful unforced baritone perfect for the mysterious Domine Jesu Christe, with the strings of the Britten Sinfonia adding an elegant sheen in the expansive acoustic of the abbey.

Music for Remembrance

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