Duruflé: Requiem & Messe Cum jubilo

Featuring

James O'Donnell
Aaron Webber
Iain Simcock
Natalie Clein
Simon Keenlyside
Westminster Cathedral Choir

Maurice Duruflé

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Compositional Technique

Duruflé's Requiem models itself on Fauré's Requiem, adopting a similarly restrained approach and using the same texts and soloists.

Composer Biography

Duruflé felt incapable of adding anything significant to the piano repertoire and viewed the string quartet with apprehension, preferring to compose for orchestra and organ, as he was a renowned virtuoso organist.

Compositional Technique

The Requiem uses plainchant as the basis for the entire work, unifying it and imbuing it with timelessness and meditative spirituality.

Compositional Technique

The strength of Duruflé's composition lies in its fusion of plainchant, liturgical modality, subtle counterpoint, and the harmonies and refined scoring of Debussy, Ravel, and Dukas.

Composer Biography

Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) was a meticulous perfectionist, publishing only ten works in his lifetime, one fewer than his teacher Paul Dukas.

Composition History

Duruflé's Requiem was commissioned by his publishers, Durand, while he was already working on organ pieces based on plainchant from the Mass for the Dead.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Duruflé eschewed avant-garde experimentation, choosing instead to draw inspiration from plainchant and the great French composers Debussy, Ravel, Fauré, and Dukas.