ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 ม.ค. 2022
- Gloria
I. Gloria
II. Laudamus te
III. Domine Deus, Rex coelestis
IV. Domine Fili unigenite
V. Domine Deus, Agnus Dei
VI. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis
‘In Poulenc, there is something of the monk and something of the rascal.’ Claude Rostand’s description encapsulates how the twentieth-century French composer’s music balanced humour and sacred seriousness. Attuned to the realities of post-WWII France, Francis Poulenc’s religious works explored the everyday aspects of Catholicism along with its transcendent potential. This tension was particularly personal due to Poulenc’s homosexuality, which resulted with a complex relationship to Catholicism throughout his life. His multi-faceted yet deeply personal music generated popular acclaim and his reputation as a composer for the people.
Gloria is not a traditional setting of the mass text, which Poulenc divided into six vastly different sections. The first movement’s endless repetition of Gloria in excelsis Deo creates constant, comical interruption that prevents the music from further progress. This irreverence continues in the following Laudamus te, with Poulenc’s intentionally wrong setting of the text foregrounding unstressed syllables and failing to emphasise the stressed ones. These two movements are drastically different from the third, Domine Deus, Rex coelestis, which introduces a totally solemn soprano solo.
These juxtapositions continue in Domine Fili unigenite, which contrasts a buoyant orchestral refrain with the chorus’s stern entrances. In the subsequent movement, Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, the soprano soloist returns; chromatic harmonies and a lack of resolution reflect both Christ’s sufferings and Poulenc’s own complicated religious relationship. After an emphatic choral introduction to the final movement, Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, the typical mass text is interrupted by the soloist’s final ‘Amen’, which is echoed by the chorus. Despite exultant moments of triumph, the muted alternations between the two vocal forces lead to an uncertain close.
© Program notes by Rafael Echevarria
SCM Symphony Orchestra
SCM Choir
Dr. Elizabeth Scott, conductor
Natasha Gesto, soprano
4 June, 2021
Verbrugghen Hall
