One of my favorite requiems. This was originally written for choir and organ, which makes sense seeing that Duruflé and his wife were both renowned organists. The orchestral version was published two years later. Either version is beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us.
I had never heard anything from the Frenchman Maurice Duruflé. It was a real pleasure to appreciate this Requiem by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Thanks for that, Jeff
Hi Jeff! I’m glad you enjoyed this! This is typical Durufle: Gregorian chant-like melodies, lush harmonies with lots of double suspensions, and irregular meters to obscure the bar line. Of course typical for Durufle is hard to define as he was a very tongue-tied composer - only fourteen works, most for solo organ. You could say this is a shoutout to our friend Phil, but I had another friend, Richard, in mind too with Robert Shaw here as both the choral master and conductor. THE shoutout to Phil is still coming up. Here’s a hint: It’s a work by another tongue-tied composer:) I’ll get another Durufle work on the schedule for later in the year. (By the way, he is the only composer i know of with whom I share a birthday - different year, obviously:)
I want to thank you for presenting such great classics on your channel. Hearing Ralph Vaughn Williams was such a pleasant surprise. Please continue. So much great music out there that soars so high above the rotting landscape of modern autotuned trashpop. Addendum: Speaking of requiems, Rutter's Requiem is something to behold.
I was going to submit Rutter’s “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes,” which shares an album with hid Requiem. I was going to do a series of classical selections in asymmetric meters. “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes” is in a strict 7/4 throughout, but maybe I’ll do the last movement of the Requiem instead. I need to think on it…
If you read about Durufle's life, two things come to mind: majesty in sound and personal tragedy. In his later years he and his wife were both severely injured and incapacitated by a near fatal auto accident, so much so that he was a housebound invalid from then on. Years ago i had the privilege of hearing some friends with their church choir in North Hollywood perform this work and to this day i have never heard anything to equal it. This piece is utterly mesmerizing, it ser es as a personal requiem for him just as Mozarts requiem did. Formally, Durufle was primarily a church organist in France so i had to look him up in wikipedia : very eclectic and interesting body of work: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Durufl%C3%A9
getting to sing in the chorus for this alongside the London Symphony Orchestra a couple of years ago was hands down one of the most memorable singing experiences I've ever had... simply stunning piece of music that really does take you somewhere else
You heard Durufle’s Ubi Caritas last weekend which in contrast, is a simpler a cappella song, but they both feature mixed meters, divisi harmonies and are written in a chant style. Good stuff.
Jeff, please consider reacting to this. In 2014, a little Norwegian girl was named and codified, a national treasure by both the King of Norway and the prime Minister. That same year, she sang for the Nobel peace prize winners all at the age of 8. In 2023, that same girl, now almost 18 once again graced the Nobel peace prize stage and sang for the recipient once again. That young girl is none other than Angelina Jordan. Angelina Jordan made history with this performance. Angelina is the only solo singer under the age of 18 to have performed twice at the Nobel peace prize concert. When I learned the story of Narges Mohammadi, this years recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the history of the song "Unchained Melody", I fully understood why Angelina Jordan chose this song. P.S.: Angelina arranged the music and vocals for this performance. She thanked the director of KORK publicly for allowing her to do this. Please consider reacting to the following: Here's the link to Angelina's 2023 Nobel peace prize concert performance, where she performed Unchained Melody: ua-cam.com/video/XxduGSjAJCo/v-deo.html
Jeff, not meaning to gild the lily, but i ran across something that you may appreciate. I have a passion for discovering mindblowing covers, especially from a songwriter whose original is so iconic that the mere thought of a cover version is gtounds for blasphemy. Such was the case, or so i thought, of Gordon Lightfoots epic "The Wreck of the Edmind Fotzgerald". Until I found The Punch Brothers doing a live version in 2022, one that totally reinvents and steals it away to another realm entirely. Incredibly, their instrumentation, voicing and styling makes the song both more lyrical visually, and with an even more stark and somber tone than Lightfoot's own studio masterpiece. And to further boggle things up: theyre a bluegrass band from NYC that uses old-school microphone groupings, like barbershop groups, to control their blend, which is rare these days. Here's the link to whet the appetite: ua-cam.com/video/8JLU9wXu-4M/v-deo.htmlsi=jofOANDER3Rh0Ug2 Thanks for all you do.
One of my favorite requiems. This was originally written for choir and organ, which makes sense seeing that Duruflé and his wife were both renowned organists. The orchestral version was published two years later. Either version is beautiful. Thanks for sharing with us.
I sang in the choir for this work years ago. You are bringing back lovely memories. The Faure Requiem is well worth a listen as well.
I had never heard anything from the Frenchman Maurice Duruflé. It was a real pleasure to appreciate this Requiem by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Thanks for that, Jeff
Hi Jeff! I’m glad you enjoyed this! This is typical Durufle: Gregorian chant-like melodies, lush harmonies with lots of double suspensions, and irregular meters to obscure the bar line. Of course typical for Durufle is hard to define as he was a very tongue-tied composer - only fourteen works, most for solo organ.
You could say this is a shoutout to our friend Phil, but I had another friend, Richard, in mind too with Robert Shaw here as both the choral master and conductor. THE shoutout to Phil is still coming up. Here’s a hint: It’s a work by another tongue-tied composer:) I’ll get another Durufle work on the schedule for later in the year. (By the way, he is the only composer i know of with whom I share a birthday - different year, obviously:)
I want to thank you for presenting such great classics on your channel. Hearing Ralph Vaughn Williams was such a pleasant surprise. Please continue. So much great music out there that soars so high above the rotting landscape of modern autotuned trashpop.
Addendum: Speaking of requiems, Rutter's Requiem is something to behold.
I was going to submit Rutter’s “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes,” which shares an album with hid Requiem. I was going to do a series of classical selections in asymmetric meters. “I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes” is in a strict 7/4 throughout, but maybe I’ll do the last movement of the Requiem instead. I need to think on it…
Thank you my friend!
If you read about Durufle's life, two things come to mind: majesty in sound and personal tragedy. In his later years he and his wife were both severely injured and incapacitated by a near fatal auto accident, so much so that he was a housebound invalid from then on. Years ago i had the privilege of hearing some friends with their church choir in North Hollywood perform this work and to this day i have never heard anything to equal it. This piece is utterly mesmerizing, it ser es as a personal requiem for him just as Mozarts requiem did. Formally, Durufle was primarily a church organist in France so i had to look him up in wikipedia : very eclectic and interesting body of work:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Durufl%C3%A9
Great comment, thank you! 👏👏👏
getting to sing in the chorus for this alongside the London Symphony Orchestra a couple of years ago was hands down one of the most memorable singing experiences I've ever had... simply stunning piece of music that really does take you somewhere else
You heard Durufle’s Ubi Caritas last weekend which in contrast, is a simpler a cappella song, but they both feature mixed meters, divisi harmonies and are written in a chant style. Good stuff.
Jeff, please consider reacting to this.
In 2014, a little Norwegian girl was named and codified, a national treasure by both the King of Norway and the prime Minister. That same year, she sang for the Nobel peace prize winners all at the age of 8.
In 2023, that same girl, now almost 18 once again graced the Nobel peace prize stage and sang for the recipient once again.
That young girl is none other than Angelina Jordan.
Angelina Jordan made history with this performance.
Angelina is the only solo singer under the age of 18 to have performed twice at the Nobel peace prize concert.
When I learned the story of Narges Mohammadi, this years recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the history of the song "Unchained Melody", I fully understood why Angelina Jordan chose this song.
P.S.: Angelina arranged the music and vocals for this performance. She thanked the director of KORK publicly for allowing her to do this.
Please consider reacting to the following:
Here's the link to Angelina's 2023 Nobel peace prize concert performance, where she performed Unchained Melody:
ua-cam.com/video/XxduGSjAJCo/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/play/PLlwnPYj0TbtpSFxH5w0slWHU4IiR9-A7u.html&si=4jAqyFumW9hah5G2
www.patreon.com/posts/97806059?
@@StrateleStudios thanks, that's the one
Jeff, not meaning to gild the lily, but i ran across something that you may appreciate. I have a passion for discovering mindblowing covers, especially from a songwriter whose original is so iconic that the mere thought of a cover version is gtounds for blasphemy. Such was the case, or so i thought, of Gordon Lightfoots epic "The Wreck of the Edmind Fotzgerald". Until I found The Punch Brothers doing a live version in 2022, one that totally reinvents and steals it away to another realm entirely. Incredibly, their instrumentation, voicing and styling makes the song both more lyrical visually, and with an even more stark and somber tone than Lightfoot's own studio masterpiece. And to further boggle things up: theyre a bluegrass band from NYC that uses old-school microphone groupings, like barbershop groups, to control their blend, which is rare these days. Here's the link to whet the appetite:
ua-cam.com/video/8JLU9wXu-4M/v-deo.htmlsi=jofOANDER3Rh0Ug2
Thanks for all you do.