Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, performed by Convivium Singers, directed by Neil Ferris.
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
£4.99 – £9.99
Description
About this release
This new arrangement for string quintet and organ was first performed on Remembrance Sunday in 2007 in the intimate setting of the choir stalls at St John’s Church, Wimbledon. By using a small number of singers, similar to the twenty or so in Fauré’s choir at the Madeleine, added to the chamber music quality of the strings, unique colours and textures are created which breathe new life into an otherwise familiar but continually evolving work.
Arrangers’ Note
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1926) began work on his Requiem purely ‘for the pleasure of it’, although it was quite probably composed in response to the recent death of his father. The subsequent passing of his mother shortly after its first performance gives the work an added poignancy, not least since the Requiem was an evolving work which he continued to revise from its inception in 1887 until the first published version of 1900.
Although he wrote several works involving a full orchestra, his particular talent lay within the more intimate musical forms – songs, piano music and chamber music. Fauré deliberately avoided the grander kind of orchestral music, preferring instead to embrace an elegant and subtle musical language. Read more
About the artists
Neil Ferris
Neil Ferris studied at Royal Holloway, University of London, and at the Royal College of Music. He is currently Music Director of Wimbledon Choral Society, one of London’s leading amateur choirs, and is Guest Conductor of Manchester Chamber Choir, Principal Guest Conductor of Birmingham Bach Choir.
In demand as chorus master to some of the leading symphonic choruses in the UK, Neil is Associate Chorus Director of the London Symphony Chorus, Chorus Director at the Royal College of Music and Chorus Master at the Endellion Summer Festival. He has also worked with the BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC National Chorus of Wales and the chorus of Cambridge University Music Society. In these roles he has prepared choirs for internationally acclaimed conductors including Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Carlo Rizzi, Marin Alsop, Donald Runnicles, Francois-Xavier Roth, Thierry Fischer, Jac van Steen, Martyn Brabbins and Ryan Wigglesworth. Read more
Convivium Singers
Convivium Singers is an award-winning, critically acclaimed choral ensemble. They provide opportunities for young singers at the early stages of performing careers. In addition, talented musicians who have chosen not to pursue careers in music form part of the ensemble. Above all, the ensemble specialises in performing and recording sacred and secular music by living European and American composers. BBC Radio 3’s ‘CD Review’ recently described them as ‘an extraordinarily good choir to listen to’. Read more
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Credits
Catalogue number: CR016
Choir Convivium Singers
Soprano Georgina Stalbow
Baritone Jonny Herford
Quintet Convivium Quintet
Violin Helen Davies, Rosie Tompsett
Viola Amy Stanford
Cello Leonie Adams
Double Bass Alice Kent
Organist Michael Higgins
Music Arrangement(s) Michael Higgins
Conductor Neil Ferris
Photography Various
Engineering Adaq Khan
Further information
Latest news and reviews
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem – “Sung with fine control” (Church Music Quarterly) 10th September, 2014
