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FAURÉ: REQUIEM; CANTIQUE DE JEAN RACINE
Sandrine Piau (soprano), Stéphane Degout (baritone), Maîtrise de Paris, Accentus, Orchestre National de France/Laurence EquilbeyNaïve V5137*****
Fauré's publisher, Hamelle, twisted the composer's arm to produce a version of his Requiem for large orchestra. The lighter, idiosyncratically scored original lay forgotten for most of the 20th century and wasn't published until1994. Laurence Equilbey treats it with veritable kid gloves, shaping the choral lines with the utmost tenderness on what sounds like a homeopathic principle of less being more. The effect is in all ways utterly ravishing. The performance meshes with a special radiance that is frequently heart-stopping, creating a little bit of heaven on earth in a work that was written, Fauré said, "for no reason - for pleasure, if I may venture to say so!" www.naiveclassique.com MICHAEL DERVAN