Britten and Durufle

One of the side benefits of playing in orchestras is that I often discover music (or in some cases, an entire composer) that I didn't really know before.  Even something that I thought I knew well yields much more when examined under the microscope of seven or eight rehearsals.

The Sounds of Stow is a little different, though.  Generally, speaking, though by no means always, we play something I already know and we do it on only two rehearsals.  That's usually sufficient when, as in the past, we would typically play a Mozart piano concerto and a "standard" choral piece.  But this year's winter concert is going to be a very enjoyable challenge.

There are three works: a lovely short choral piece by Fauré (Cantique de Racine), the Requiem by Maurice Duruflé and the Violin Concerto by Benjamin Britten.  Until last week, I didn't know any of these pieces.  But they are examples, each very different, of great music.  Britten and Duruflé were more or less contemporaries (in fact the Frenchman outlived the Brit by about 10 years at either end).  While I had heard of Duruflé, I knew nothing of his and really had no idea that he lived so recently (he died in 1986).

The Britten, as is usual for this composer, is quite technically challenging for the orchestra.  One would expect a professional orchestra to get it down in two rehearsals.  But for us, it will take a lot of hard work and concentration.

The Requiem borrows from the genre of Gregorian Chant in which Duruflé was immersed as a student at Rouen, and which Kim and I experienced first-hand last year in the wonderful setting of the Abbey of Fontgombault in central France.  The composer's own program notes mention in particular the Benedictines of Solesmes, of which house, currently, is Fontgombault.  But you will be surprised to read the history of the Abbey in the Wikipedia article already linked – it wasn't always so!

I'm looking forward to the concert!