Maurice Duruflé, Houston Chamber Choir, Robert Simpson - Complete Choral Works

Published Wednesday 20th March 2019
Maurice Duruflé, Houston Chamber Choir, Robert Simpson - Complete Choral Works
Maurice Duruflé, Houston Chamber Choir, Robert Simpson  - Complete Choral Works

STYLE: Choral
RATING 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 175183-
LABEL: Signum Classics SIGCD571
FORMAT: CD Album

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

In his lifetime Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) was best known as an organist in Paris and beyond, playing in the style of his teachers Eugène Gigout and Charles Tournemire and often bracketed with Francis Poulenc. The choral works of Duruflé, like his organ works, are small in number but perfectly formed. They were frequently written and rewritten until he was completely satisfied as he was a composer who rethought and rearranged his music right up to the moment of performance and even beyond. Sometimes described as a man out of step with his times, his pieces look back to Gregorian chant and plainsong in an era when the musical life of his home city was steeped in radical new compositional ideas - a testament perhaps to Duruflé's enduring love of France's choral heritage. Duruflé's best-known work was a Requiem of 1947, originally scored for a full orchestra but later arranged for just an organ, the version on show here and played by Ken Cowan. Also featured is the Mass "Cum Jubilo" ("With Rejoicing") from 1966. This is written for baritone voices and features soloist Eduardo Tercero. While the monastic roots are clear this reimagining is also of its own time and thus manages to sound timeless. The "Four Motets on Gregorian Themes" of 1960 include my personal favourite, Duruflé's setting of "Ubi Caritas" , along with "Tota pulchra es", "Tue s Petrus", and "Tantum ergo". And we also get Duruflé's unaccompanied four-voice setting of the Lord's Prayer, "Notre Pere", from 1978 - the composer's only sacred work in everyday French. Duruflé was not sufficiently modern for his own time and not sufficiently prolific to demand our attention and the 68 minutes of this recording seems like a small return for a lifetime's work. However the Houston Chamber Choir under artistic director Robert Simpson have done Duruflé the courtesy of taking him seriously and no listener could fail to be impressed by both the quality of the compositions and performances. While Duruflé is not sufficiently contemporary to be an essential listen those that appreciate traditional choral music, by which I mean tuneful songs sung well, will get much from this collection.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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