Following their highly successful tours Spiegel im Spiegel and Petite messe solennelle, this time Amsterdam Sinfonietta and the Netherlands Chamber Choir join forces for a moving, yet comforting program: Requiem.
Crushed by the Soviet Communist system, terrorised by Stalin and in a deeply depressed state, Shostakovich composed a requiem for himself. It was to be his most intimate and riveting work. Bach wrote his “requiem” – the Chaconne – after his first wife Maria Barbara had died and been buried in his absence. The soloist Candida Thompson is accompanied by four singers, bringing the hidden chorale melodies to life and intensifying the lament. Fauré composed a strikingly different requiem than the usual; it is introspective, comforting and serene. He passes over the ominous and unknown nature of death and instead expresses a joyful surrender: the Requiem as an ode to eternal life!
