Nottingham Classics: Fauré Requiem
Farrenc Overture No. 2
Schumann Piano Concerto
Fauré Requiem
Saturday 23rd March 2024 7:30PM
Nottingham Harmonic Choir
Sinfonia Viva
Conductor Natalie Murray Beale
Piano Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula
Soprano April Fredrick
Baritone Simon Wallfisch
The music of the gifted 19th-century French composer, Louise Farrenc, is enjoying a long overdue rediscovery and her 2nd concert overture is a fine example of her arrestingly dramatic writing, which draws from the melting-pot of musical innovation in Paris at the time and the influence of Hector Berlioz. The outstanding young Swiss pianist, Jean-Selim Abdelmoula is the soloist in Schumann’s free-spirited Piano Concerto before Fauré’s Requiem concludes the evening with some of the most moving choral music you’ll hear this side of heaven. Departing from the fire and damnation of more theatrical examples, the prevailing mood of Fauré’s Impressionistic masterpiece is serenity, with deeply moving contributions from the two soloists, most memorably in the soprano’s angelic Pie Jesu.
Free pre-concert talk, 6.20pm in the auditorium: Natalie Murray Beale in conversation.
Approximate length of concert: 1 hour 50 minutes
