Reflections on war, loss, hope and reconciliation – we mark the centenary of the 1918 armistice with music seeking to respond to and provide solace from the tragedy of war.
The programme opens with music from composers directly affected by both the first and second world wars. The responses of Finzi and Gurney (a veteran of the trenches) are both secular and elegaic, mourning senseless loss and finding hope in the timeless beauty of nature. Lili Boulanger wrote her plangent setting of Pie Jesu only months before her untimely death in 1918, while Rudolf Mauersberger turned to the words of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, setting Wie liegt die Stadt so wust after the destruction of Dresden in 1944.
Fauré’s Requiem, performed in its symphonic orchestration – now rarely heard, forms the centrepiece of the programme, providing consolation and radiant beauty.
Bradford First World War group provide further context in an exhibition available to view before and after the concert.
The Trumpet – Ivor Gurney
Wie liegt die Stadt so wust – Rudolf Mauersberger
Requiem da Camera – Gerald Finzi
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Pie Jesu – Lili Boulanger
Requiem – Gabriel Fauré
Skipton Building Society Camerata
Thomas Leech – Conductor