Collegium Musicum Of London Chamber Choir

Fauré - Requiem
Langlais - Messe Solonelle

St Alfege's Church, Greenwich
Tickets 12.00 / 8.00, available on the door, in advance or on the day of the concert: 07976 629 435

Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem – one of the most sublime works in the sacred classical canon –  as a committed agnostic, between 1887 and 1900. Rather than a deep religious calling, it was in fact his sheer boredom with his duties as organist of the Madeleine church in Paris which inspired him to put pen to paper. He confessed in 1902: 'I had been playing the organ at funeral services for so long and was completely sick of it. I wanted to do something different.' Still, even with the work’s birth being steeped in earthly clay, it's hard not to be seduced by its transcendental beauty. In fact, part of its charm is probably directly attributable to Fauré’s agnosticism: he produced music designed to provide comfort, rather than to make us ruminate on our own final destinations.

Jean Langlais was born near Mont Saint-Michel in Brittany in 1907, and became blind when he was only two years old.

Composed in 1949, the Messe Solennelle is unquestionably his finest piece of church music. As well as its grand gestures and lucid choral writing, the work also showcases the organ, and stretches the solemn mass concept to its limits. Langlais uses a rich, impressionist-tinged harmonic palette, in an exhilarating display of choral virtuosity with dazzling organ accompaniment.