Fauré: Requiem (Michel Corboz)

Chronique

Over the years, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, Op. 48, has become one of the most popular works in the choral genre, due in large part to its gentle music, poignant moods, and benign vision of death, which many find more appealing and comforting than the gloomy, doom-laden Requiems of some composers. A humanist who regarded death "as a happy deliverance," Fauré dispensed with the grim Dies Irae sequence and minimized references to the Last Judgment in the brief eruption of the Libera Me; otherwise, he treated the Latin texts from the Mass for the Dead and the Burial Service as calm and quiet meditations, and supplied them with some of his most inspired melodies and translucent choral writing. Michel Corboz leads the Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne and the Sinfonia Varsovia in a sublime performance of the 1893 edition of the Requiem, the so-called "church version" for soloists, choir, and chamber orchestra. With baritone Peter Harvey, soprano Ana Quintans, and organist Marcelo Giannini, the performers present the work with dignity, tranquility, and introspection, and make this one of the most compelling and satisfying performances available. Fauré's Requiem is presented with three of his short motets -- Ave Verum Corpus, Ave Maria, and Tantum Ergo -- along with the Messe des pêcheurs de Villerville (a collaborative effort between Fauré and André Messager), all suitable filler pieces in their sacred nature, small forces, and subdued tone; they are also rendered with a contemplative feeling and tender expression. Mirare's audio is clear and crisp in details, though the voices are surrounded with a beautiful resonance, thanks to the marvelous acoustics of the Abbey of Fontevraud.
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