A concert of Fauré in Arcachon

Saturday began with the excitement of a visit from two of our old neighbours in Pessac, Monique and Yvette. We ate on the terrace until it was time for me to scuttle off and meet some fellow choristers to zoom down to Arcachon where our choir, Arpège, was giving a concert of Fauré in the basilica.

The weather is currently beautiful and warm and we made good time, found the church easily and parked without problems. Rehearsal went OK, the light-setter-uppers did their work and we were dismissed for picnic time. I went and ate my sandwich on the jetty watching the sun set.

Came the hour to change into our song rags - black suit (in my case chinos and jacket) with white shirt and red tie. We had one changing room. Ladies used the small toilet.

The high voices began with the Messe basse, sang with our charming soprano soloist, followed by a couple of motets for sopranos and altos.

Then we other men entered and we sang the Cantique de Jean Racine.  Fauré set this for a competition when he was 19, based on a fine Jansenist text. The church was full, perhaps 200 - 300 in the audience and their applause was enthusiastic and very long. I realised that we were singing very well indeed.

A piece followed for tenors and basses. Again it went well. Some more motets finishing with the nicely rowdy "Tu es Petrus", and then the brief interval.

The second half was the Fauré Requiem. I have mixed feelings about this piece. It has all the beauty, lightness and charm of Fauré : lovely melodies, beautiful vocalises, complex and sometimes adventurous harmony, it's a glorious piece of music, but rather than expressing faith it seems to aim at calm, at resignation and a vague optimism. We sang wonderfully. There's a kind of homogeneity of sound that this choir achieves, along with really strong and sensitive dynamics. At the end for In Paradisum I thought of soaring eagles and we did get that kind of dandelion seed in the wind feeling. I was ... blown away.

I'm still coming down from it all. What an exciting group to sing with!


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