Réquiem

Description

From the great motets of Lully, the Leçons de ténèbres of Couperin, the Requiem of Campra or Desaugiers, all the way to Poulenc’s Stabat Mater or Messiaen’s La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ, there exists a sumptuous tradition of sacred music in France. So it is hardly surprising that a young composer of the 1880s should try his hand at a religious fresco before embarking on an operatic career — which, after all, remained at the time the key to media success. Alfred Bruneau’s Requiem is in fact the composer’s first major work, the one that would launch him into the contemporary arena, before the decisive breakthrough brought about by the premiere of his opera Le Rêve. The Requiem is here performed by French conductor Ludovic Morlot at the head of the Orchestre de La Monnaie, with a top-class vocal lineup: Mireille Delunsch, Nora Gubisch, Edgaras Montvidas and Jérôme Varnier. As a bonus, the formidable orchestral suite Pelléas et Mélisande by Marius Constant, based on Debussy’s opera of the same name.