Excellent, enjoyable and rewarding (Gramophone) Le disque coup de coeur (Radio France)

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“Leeds Cathedral Choir…bright tone and honest, natural singing deliver very accomplished and satisfying performances. The choir are ably supported by the splendid accompaniments of the Skipton Camerata and organists Benjamin Saunders and Daniel Justin. It’s faithfully captured by the excellent recording… an enjoyable and rewarding two-CD set.”  February 2014

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“This is such a successful and inherently excellent idea that one is surprised that no French company has thought of it before. Duruflé was more than a ‘one-hit’ composer, although his Requiem remains one of the best and most frequently performed of all such 20th-century works; to have his complete choral and solo organ music on just two CDs is a most effective combination, especially in such good performances as these.” February 2014

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SACRÉES MUSIQUES
PAR BENJAMIN FRANÇOIS LE DIMANCHE DE 08H00 À 10H00

Radio France’s ‘Sacrées Musique’ have labeled the new recording by Leeds Cathedral Choir as their ‘Le disque coup de coeur de la semaine.’

The complete choral and organ works of Maurice Duruflé. The Requiem is recorded in the composers preferred edition of organ and reduced orchestration. These two disks present the heart of the small, carefully wrought oeuvre of a French composer whose name became a byword for compositional fastidiousness no less than that of his compatriots Ravel and Dutilleux. Of course these latter two wrote no sacred music whereas Maurice Duruflé was a cradle and devout Catholic, who regarded his art as at the service of the Church and composed almost no secular music beyond a set of three orchestral dances of refined instrumental colour and rhythmic sophistication. Indeed, it was Duruflé’s talents as an orchestrator that have led some to prefer the full-orchestra version of his most famous work, the Requiem, over the original version for choir and organ alone which has more obvious liturgical possibilities. Here, however, we have the opportunity to hear another version: the reduced orchestra and organ one, which undoubtedly forms one of the highlights of this release, recordings of it being far and few between. The Requiem is followed by a selection of pieces that make up the rest of the composer’s oeuvre for choir and organ — these include the four beautiful unaccompanied motets, works for which plainchant was again a source of inspiration.

Tracklist

CD1 COMPLETE CHORAL MUSIC
Requiem, Op. 9
Quatre Motets sur des thèmes Grégoriens, Op. 10
Notre Père, Op. 14
Messe ‘Cum jubilo’

Benjamin Saunders, Daniel Justin, organ
The Choir of Leeds Cathedral
Skipton Building Society Camerata, Thomas Leech
Total time 69’31

CD 2 COMPLETE ORGAN MUSIC
Prélude, Adagio et Choral varié sur le thème du ‘Veni Creator’, Op. 4
Prélude sur l’Introït de l’Épiphanie, Op. 13
Fugue sur le thème du Carillon des Heures de la cathédrale de Soissons, Op. 12
Scherzo, Op. 2
Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain, Op. 7
Méditation, Op. Posth.
Hommage à Jean Gallon
Suite, Op. 5

Adriano Falcioni, organ
Total time 71’44