Nelson Civic Choir and Orchestra: Fauré Requiem

Nelson Civic Choir and orchestra present the elegant and beautiful Fauré Requiem together with a selection of songs, with a focus on New Zealand composers.

The choir and orchestra, together with baritone and soprano soloists, will perform under the baton of Nigel E. Weeks on Sunday November 24th at 2.30 pm in the Nelson School of Music Auditorium at NCMA.

Instead of the sombre nature of many requiems, the Fauré Requiem is noted for its calm, serene and peaceful outlook, fixed on eternal rest and consolation. Fauré wrote of the work:

Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.

Of the many settings of the Requiem, this is probably the most widely loved. Two new sections, the lyrical Pie Jesu and the transcendent In Paradisum, with its soaring vocal line, marked a departure from the standard liturgical text. In seven movements, the work is scored for soprano and baritone soloists, mixed choir, orchestra and organ. The work has often been described as a Requiem without the Last Judgement, and Fauré himself described his Requiem as 'a lullaby of death'.

The concert also features a selection of songs with a focus on well-known New Zealand composers, with the choir performing Chris Artley's Solitude and I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes, and David Hamilton's St Luke's Magnificat.

The baritone soloist, Iain Tetley, will sing The Lord's Prayer, set to music by Albert Hay Malotte (1895 - 1964), and Where'er you walk, by George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759), which is arguably the most popular number from the musical drama Semele, and undoubtedly one of Handel's most famous arias.