[Magdalen] Rutter's Requiem

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I can't get tired of the Faure.  It is just one of those peak moments in
all music.  I find much of Rutter's stuff very personal and moving,
including the Requiem and Gloria, but certainly not limited to that.

I also find Lauridsen's somewhat different takes on these streams of art to
be very deep and fulfilling. Whitacre is doing some fantastic stuff as
well. As for which will end up in the grand scheme of Great Works, time
will tell.

Durufle is a very different story. I was just completely unimpressed with
it when I sang it. Not bad, but certainly not great either. I found out
what the deal is when I was writing my own take on the Requiem idea and
discovered that Durufle didn't actually write a Requiem at all; he arranged
the chants of the RCC Requiem for hot shot organ and orchestra, with choral
obbligato. I do not care for most chants (which are to music much as bugle
calls are to music, so far as I'm concerned, and there's actually a good
analogy there), so it stands to reason that his arrangement of the chants
left me cold.  And of course for those who have a preference for that sort
of thing, it's absolutely understandable that they would naturally prefer
the Durufle.

I sang the Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem several times, including once at
Carnegie Hall, so when we were asked to sing it there again, I opted out.
Singers are not treated very well there (or much anyplace where an
orchestra is operating in my experience). The leader was Rutter, and I kind
of regret not going. I understand he was a very fine director (no surprise
there. He's one of the finest choral directors alive).  Kind of. Almost.



James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Sat, Aug 20, 2016 at 9:30 AM, Cantor03--- via Magdalen <
magdalen at herberthouse.org> wrote:

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> I'm  listening to Requiem  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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> Another good Requiem is the one by French composer Durufle.   It's
> based on the plainchant Requiem.  It's been overshadowed by the
> far more popular Faure Requiem which is, of course, very beautiful  also.
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> A lot of recordings have both on the same disc.
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> David S.
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