Duruflé: Requiem; Poulenc: Lenten Motets

One of the twentieth century’s best-loved choral works, Duruflé’s Requiem—a magical synthesis of the old (plainsong) and the new (a harmonic language appropriate to its time and place)—continues to cast its potent spell over performers and listeners alike. This new recording from Stephen Layton and his Trinity forces fully deserves to be regarded as ‘definitive’.

CDA68436 55 minutes 57 seconds

‘The overall effect is sublime. Moving seamlessly into the 'Kyrie', the various ‘gear changes’ are impeccably negotiated, building to a luminous, rounded climax. Dramatic and dynamic contrasts and per ...
‘The balance [in the Duruflé] puts you in the building in the most extraordinary way … that wonderful envelope of sound that just surrounds you as you listen to it. A shout-out for Harrison Cole— ...
‘The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, dials up the plushness with the 1948 version [of the Duruflé] for organ, and the instrument at Saint-Eustache in Paris is so sonorous and pillowy as to render ...