In paradisum

Description

in paradisum Gabriel Fauré's famous Requiem, with its luminous tonal language, is at the center of our concert. The "middle" version (1893) will be performed, colored by deep, rich string voices and the warm glow of horns and trombones. Sounds of elegiac gentleness convey an unusually peaceful and comforting vision of the afterlife: in paradisum – may angels lead you to paradise. Framed by motets and instrumental pieces, the Requiem appears as the center of a network of relationships with which composers shaped Parisian musical life at the Fin de siècle. The magnificent setting of the 150th Psalm by César Franck stands as a motto above the first sounds of the choir. With the diverse call to praise God with music, it is considered the "Psalm of the musicians." A delicate counterbalance is formed by Lili Boulanger's Pie Jesu, with which the highly gifted composer wrote her own Requiem shortly before her early death. Einojuhani Rautavaara also takes us to otherworldly spheres with a mystically floating movement from his string quintet Les cieux inconnues (1997). Inspired by Baudelaire's poetry, the music of the Finnish composer embodies a modern form of transcendence: convinced that his works already existed in "another reality," he saw his task as transferring them from there into our world. OPUS Orchestra Bern Concert Choir Pro Arte Bern Keiko Enomoto, soprano Jean-Luc Waeber, baritone Mona Spägele, conductor