French Connections

Faure Requiem
Poulenc Gloria
Chausson Vivianne
Lili Boulanger D;un Matin de PrintempsSophie Bevan, soprano
Lawrence White, Baritone
Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus
Matthew Andrews, Ashley Grote, conductorsOur March concert features two magnificent works for choir and orchestra, Faure's Requiem and Poulenc's Gloria. The sumptuous mellowness of Gabriel Faure's romantic sound world of the late 1880s is contrasted with the vivid colours of F|rancis Poulenc's response to a commission from the Koussevitsky Foundation in 1959.
The programme is completed by two short and rarely-heard orchestral works. Lili Boulanger's uplifting D'un Matin de Printemps (spring morning) was composed in 1918, the final year of her short life and has distinct echoes of Debussy. Ernest Chausson's tone poem portrays a romantic tale from Arthurian legend, the fairy Viviane's affair with Merlin the wizard.