Faure Requiem

Seascapes, rainstorms and funerals coalesced in an eclectic mix of sound in this smartly devised choral concert by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

Igor Stravinsky’s Funeral Song, written when the composer was just 26 and as a memorial to his teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, had long been thought lost until it resurfaced in the library of the St Petersburg Conservatoire in 2015. A twelve-minute piece for orchestra, the composer always maintained it was his finest work before Firebird and The Rite of Spring. Dominated by a sorrowful theme, first heard on the horn and then passed slowly to instrument after instrument, the piece evoked a tremendous emotional pull and was a powerful opener.

Second up was Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, which masterfully conveyed the changing moods of the Suffolk seaside culminating in the bombast and fury of the Storm. Britten’s works segued perfectly into the pre-interval Cloudburst, a unique and ethereal choral composition by Eric Whitacre which was highlighted by the percussive finger-snapping and clapped hands of the Australian Singers as the clouds finally burst and rain falls.

The main event, post-interval, was Faure’s Requiem, the most popular setting of the Catholic Mass in the sacred classical canon. Ironically it was written by a committed agnostic and that’s probably part of its transcendental charm. The Australian Singers were at their most luminous during the entire seven movements with Teddy Tahu Rhodes’ creamy bass punctuating the Offertoire and Libera me with stentorian colour. Although Morgan England Jones’ Pie Jesu was less than definitive, it nevertheless slotted into the fabric of the performance with ease.

Conductor Stefan Parkman spurred the orchestra to an expressive performance of each work, sometimes eliciting passages of sheer orchestral magic.

Peter Pinne

Photographer: Peter Wallis