Lasso: Requiem a 4 (Missa pro defunctis), H.iv/95

This project arose from a very simple question that serves as a preamble to any study of the performance of a musical work: what is the original element that lies at the source of the composer’s imagination? This reflection then raises another question: what could be one of the most meaningful inspirational themes of great musical works since the time of Gregorian chant to the present day? The answer was the Requiem. The idea then came to follow the path of the Requiem throughout the history of music. To present one Requiem per century seemed to be just right for bringing out the evolution of the musical form, and it seemed logical to start with Gregorian chant and the first extant polyphonic Requiem, that of Johannes Ockeghem from the fifteenth century. To end with a twenty-first-century work that Pierre Bartholomée composed specially for this project seemed indispensable to bring the journey to an end. Between these two poles: Requiem that are representative – though not necessarily the best-known, so as to give everyone the opportunity of discovering or rediscovering some of the masterpieces of our musical heritage.