Customer Reviews

Fauré: Requiem; Cantique de Jean Racine; Duruflé: Requiem; Quatre Motets

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Both Faure and Durufle furnish us with requiems that take us to the depths of despair and the heights of ecstacy. If you are looking for music that expreses tragedy, fragility, tempest, love and salvation through a brilliant interpretation then go no further. This is my favourite recording of these two requiems, a classic. On top of this, we hear Faure's beautiful Cantique de Jean Racine and some powerful works by Poulenc. If there is another CD that could sum up the dynamic range of classical music better, I have not yet found it.

Both Duruflé and Fauré wrote their Requiems for choir and organ first. The orchestrations were afterthoughts bending to the excesses of public appeal and publishers demands, at least that's what I was taught in college. Both works can be wonderful with orchestra and on this CD, the consistently excellent St. Martin in the Fields gives a beautiful interpretation of the Fauré Requem with orchestra. However, on this CD you will find the Duruflé Requiem in the original choir and organ only version, and this, in my opinion, is by far the best way to hear this sublime piece of choral music. Also, this performance is wonderful with a most lush and complex tone from the trebles in the boy choir.

This version of Durufle's Requiem is just mesmerizing, I have the Telarc, which is great... until you listen to this one.
Sound quality is top notch too for a seventies recording.

Any review of this recording that fails to mention the distracting background noise makes one wonder how closely the reviewer was listening. Throughout the Duruflé Requiem, there is a consistent noise that sounds like a needle stuck in a grove at the end of an old LP: "rum-rum, rum-rum, rum-rum..." While it is possible one might not hear it played back through speakers, it is impossible to miss through headphones.

As to the performance, I prefer the austere sound of the organ against the ethereal sounds of the chorus. My only reservation lies with the boy tremble, whose vocal output is unsteady, almost nervous sounding, as though he were being forced to sing. I don't think an idea performance with organ accompaniment exists, but this performance comes as close as any I have heard.

I just got this CD a few weeks ago because I wanted both the Faure and the Durufle. I'm not going to pick on anybody for supposed intonation problems (I listen to Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams regularly) or anything else. I really like the recordings of every piece I've heard on this CD set.

But has anybody else noticed some pretty major traffic noises during the Durufle Quatre Motets, specificall track 11? It sounds like they recorded next to a race track.

Outside of that, I think this set is a worthwhile investment.

If one were to listen solely to the Faure Requiem and some of the other choral works on this 2 CD compilation, this would be a decent recording of great French choral music. However, as someone looking for a good recording of the Durufle, I was highly disappointed. Not only is the recording simply an organ reduction of full score, but the quality of singing was below what one would expect to find on a CD from a major label. Marked by under-developed techniques and inconsistencies in pitch, the recording is good if you need to learn the work in a hurry, but little else. If you're in the market for a Faure recording, this will do the job and you can preview the Durufle, but look elsewhere for a serious recording of such a rich work.