April 2019
Repertoire
M. Duruflé: Four motets on Gregorian themes
M. Duruflé: Requiem, Op. 9
Performers
Orquestra Simfònica Camera Musicae
Cor Francesc Valls
Juan de la Rubia, organist
Gemma Coma-Alabert, mezzosoprano
Enric Martínez-Castignani, barithon
Pere Lluís Biosca, conductor
Programme notes
The descent to hell, called catabasis, is the perfect argument for composing this beautiful Requiem music program, which, for melodic lovers, is a delight of melodic, harmonica, counterpoint and orchestral aesthetics, for which the depth looks spiritual, it is the true meaning of the death and resurrection of Christ, the descent to hell, to release all the souls taken from the underworld, and Ascension to Heaven as the King of the Universe.
It may be appreciated in his listening that this Requiem is based on the Mass and Office of the Gregorian deceased. Written in the memory of his father, the composer establishes an interesting relationship between the Gregorian modality and metrics and the evolution of the musical language – politics and counterpoint – of the s. XX, with great melodic influences of his compatriot Claude Debussy.
Maurice Duruflé, like the Frenchman Gabriel Fauré, also poses a Requiem full of calm, hope and serenity, far from the usual tremendousisms of the nineteenth century.
TICKETS
The Sagrada Família wants to make participate the citizenship by drawing 300 double tickets through their social networks. Registration can take place between March 25 and April 1 at 10 am in this link.
CONCERT DATES
The Duruflé Requiem
Biography Cor Francesc Valls
It was founded in November 2003 to participate regularly in the conventual masses of the Cathedral of Barcelona, offering weekly an extensive repertoire of motets and polyphonic songs based on the texts of each liturgical day. Since January 2015 Pere Lluís Biosca has been the managing director.
The work of the Cor Francesc Valls combines both the interpretation of the religious polyphony of all time and the unpublished works of the old chapel masters of the Cathedral of Barcelona. The most important example of this recovery process is found in the Cant de la Sibil·la, where the liturgy and costumes of the 16th century have been reconstituted, preserved in the archives of the capitulary. Annually a final song is commissioned to a prestigious composer.
Among its activities in concerts and public events, the performance of the Hangman Opera, Hangman at the Gran Teatre del Liceu 2007, the annual participation at the Mass of Sant Jordi at the Palau de la Generalitat, the Cuaresma 2013 concert in Montserrat , the Cervera Festival 2014, the staged performance of the Singing of the Sybil in the Duomo of Milan, in June 2015, and the Messiah of Handel in the Holy Family, in December 2015.
In 2017, he has participated in the show “Cants i Danses del Llibre Vermell de Montserrat” at the Ancient Music Festival of the Pyrenees and has interpreted the opera by Purcell Dido & Aeneas with the Orchestra of Illa de Menorca in Maó.