Maurice Duruflé’s haunting Requiem – one of the most beautiful of 20^th century choral masterpieces – performed live by Harry Christophers and The Sixteen

Amid the terrors of wartime France, Maurice Duruflé imagined a music that seemed to exist outside of time – a Requiem of profound beauty and limitless consolation, in which ancient chants blossomed, like bare branches in springtime, into melodies that sink quietly into your soul. It’s one of those pieces that once heard, is never forgotten, and if you enjoy Fauré’s Requiem, it’ll feel like falling in love all over again. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen prepare the way with a sequence of choral music with a French flavour: an evening of deep beauty and searching emotion from one of the world’s finest chamber choirs.

Programme

Martin – Cantate pour le 1er Août
Poulenc – Un soir de neige
Duruflé – Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens
Poulenc – Litanies à la Vierge Noire 
Martin – Agnus Dei from Mass for Double Choir
Duruflé – Requiem

Performers

The Sixteen
Harry Christophers Conductor
Robert Quinney Organ