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Fauré - Requiem - Paavo Järvi (cond.), Philippe Jaroussky, Matthias Goerne (2011)
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ChaosmoZ
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Date :
02 Jan 2012 23:38:38
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13
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Gabriel Fauré: Requiem
Philippe Jaroussky; Matthias Goerne; Choeur de l’Orchestre de Paris / Paavo Järvi
Classical | EAC | FLAC+CUE+LOG (separate files) | cover+booklet | 1 CD | 244 mb
2011.09.27 | Virgin classics | Fileserve + Megaupload
Philippe Jaroussky; Matthias Goerne; Choeur de l’Orchestre de Paris / Paavo Järvi
Classical | EAC | FLAC+CUE+LOG (separate files) | cover+booklet | 1 CD | 244 mb
2011.09.27 | Virgin classics | Fileserve + Megaupload
Like his previous Virgin Classics release (a program dedicated to Georges Bizet), Paavo Järvi devotes his new CD entirely to music by one French composer: Gabriel Fauré. Fauré’s serene and consoling Requiem is the centerpiece of the album, which also features three further classics, and the world-premiere recording of a neglected rarity, by the same composer.
The Requiem features two vocal soloists, usually a soprano and a baritone. Here, however, a countertenor – exclusive Virgin Classics artist and one of Europe’s best-selling classical artists, Philippe Jaroussky – brings his ethereal timbre and sensitive phrasing to the poised “Pie Jesu.” His baritone colleague is the warm-toned German Matthias Goerne, acknowledged as one of today’s finest vocal recitalists. The Choeur de l’Orchestre de Paris also performs in three other works on the CD, including the exquisite Pavane, with its flowing melody and mock-Rococo verses, and two early settings of religious texts: the touching Cantique de Jean Racine and – in its world-premiere recording – Super Flumina Babylonis (By the Rivers of Babylon). Completing the program is the reflective but impassioned Elégie for cello and orchestra, performed by the Orchestre de Paris’ Principal Cellist, Eric Picard.
| “ | London’s Independent recently praised the new album: “Paavo Järvi’s recent recordings of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem have demonstrated his ability to marshal grand forces – the latter comparison is most pertinent here, in another beautifully-balanced Requiem of shorter, gentler, Gallic persuasion. “He’s assisted here by equally sensitive contributions from baritone Matthias Goerne in the ‘Offertorium’ and ‘Libera Me’ sections, and countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, breathtakingly angelic in what Saint-Saëns considered the only ‘Pie Jesu’ worth performing. But it’s Järvi’s uncanny knack to somehow derive spiritual uplift from the gloomiest of subjects that most impresses here, a talent tailored to fit such needs.” | ” |
| “ | BBC Review A beautifully warm, full sound which colours both timbre and interpretation. Charlotte Gardner 2011-10-26 | ” |
1 Requiem Op. 48: I. Introït et Kyrie
2 Requiem Op. 48: II. Offertoire
3 Requiem Op. 48: III. Sanctus
4 Requiem Op. 48: IV. Pie Jesu
5 Requiem Op. 48: V. Agnus Dei
6 Requiem Op. 48: VI. Libera me
7 Requiem Op. 48: VII. In Paradisum
8 Cantique de Jean Racine Op. 11
9 Elégie for cello and orchestra in C minor Op. 24
10 Pavane for orchestra and mixed choir, Op. 50
11 Super flumina Babylonis, for mixed choir and orchestra
It's a well-known but eminently repeatable piece of musical trivia that Fauré composed his Requiem, one of the most sublime works in the sacred classical canon, as a committed agnostic. Far from a deep religious calling inspiring him to put pen to paper, it was in fact his sheer boredom with his duties as organist of the Madeleine church in Paris. He confessed in 1902: "I had been playing the organ at funeral services for so long! I was completely sick of it. I wanted to do something different." Still, even with the work’s birth being so very steeped in earthly clay, it's hard not to be seduced by its transcendental beauty. In fact, part of its very charm is probably directly attributable to Fauré’s agnosticism: he went for music designed to provide comfort, rather than to make us ruminate on our own final destinations. Thanks to his omission of the traditional Dies Irae, except for a brief appearance within the Libera me, brimstone is kept to a minimum. Instead, we get the sublime In Paradisum and Pie Jesu.
Paavo Järvi's live recording packs a punch, the X-factor within its beautifully warm, full sound being a core strength that colours both timbre and interpretation and underpins even the light-textured, soprano-led In Paradisum. The vocal tones of both soloists slot into this sound world perfectly, with the casting of countertenor Philippe Jaroussky in the soprano role feeling surprisingly natural from the outset. In fact, his Pie Jesu solo steadily grows in ones consciousness to feel not just less strange than one would have imagined, but more like a stroke of unorthodox genius; his voice, whilst tender, has a strength and edge that's very different from the gossamer-light attack produced by the usual choirboy or female soloists, and he accentuates those qualities in the reprise of the main idea. Ether-reality is gone: in the place of a barely-there angel's voice is that of a very earthly flesh-and-blood comforter. The following Agnus Dei with its tenors-only opening appears to then underline what we've just heard, in its continuation of solo higher male voices. It's an interesting and enlightening listen.
Also of interest is the world première recording of Super flumina Babylonis (By the rivers of Babylon), a teenage competition entry that remained unpublished in Fauré’s lifetime. For mixed choir and orchestra, its musical interest and overall success as the disc’s closing work are largely due to the similarity of some of its musical ideas to the Requiem of 25 years later.
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Not a bad performance and Jaroussky just manages to pull off the Pie Jesu solo without becoming too operatic.
As an aside there's an interesting video of this at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTf14maKtT8
Quite a heated discussion therewith: I've rarely seen so many "deleted" comments for a classical video!
The best Requiems (old and new version) are with cond. Herreweghe.