Fauré: Requiem; Gounod: Messe de Clovis
ALPHA 1014 (Alpha Classics, CD)
FIRST RELEASE (23 August 2024)
Playing time: 59'08"
Tracks: 15
Booklet pages: 33
℗ 2024 Alpha Classics / Outhere Music France / Palazzetto Bru Zane / Le Concert Spirituel
© 2024 Alpha Classics / Outhere Music France
Reviewer: Gerald Fenech
Review of Fauré: Requiem; Gounod: Messe de Clovis published on 19 August 2024
Emőke Baráth, soprano (tracks 4 and 14)
Philipe Estèphe, baritone (tracks 2 and 6)
Le Concert Spirituel
Hervé Niquet, conductor
Gabriel Fauré:
1-7 Requiem, Op 48
Charles Gounod:
8-13 Messe de Clovis
Louis Aubert (1877-1968):
14 O Salutaris
André Caplet (1878-1925):
15 Adagio pour violon et orgue
While Fauré's Requiem is a monument of French sacred music, Gounod's Messe de Clovis is much less well known. It was composed from 1891 onwards as a tribute to Clovis who, like Joan of Arc, had become an iconic figure after the defeat of France in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The two works share a reflective and intimate character that gives the impression of a return to the purity of Gregorian chant, although this does not detract from the jubilant character of Fauré's Requiem: 'this warm, luxuriant sound leads to an elevation of the spirit', says Hervé Niquet. The work is recorded here in its 1893 version, in an orchestration that uses neither violins nor woodwind; a later version with full orchestra was published in July 1900. O salutaris by Louis Aubert (1877-1968) for soprano, violin, harp, organ and choir and L'Adagio for violin and organ by André Caplet (1878-1925) complete this programme, a co-production with the Palazzetto Bru Zane and performed with fervour by Le Concert Spirituel under Hervé Niquet, with vocal guest stars Emőke Baráth and Philippe Estèphe.
Recorded in 2022 at Chapelle de Conflans, Charenton-le-Pont, France.