Choral music

Berliner Requiem

Ensemble intercontemporain

April 2, 2024 - 21:00

Maison de la Radio et de la Musique - Auditorium

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Distribution

Maîtrise de Radio France
Radio France Choir
Ensemble intercontemporain
Students from Conservatoire de Paris, CRR Paris and Pôle Sup' 93
Sofi Jeannin and Lionel Sow | direction

Programme

Kurt Weill, Das Berliner Requiem, short cantata for tenor, baritone, men's choir and wind orchestra

Helen Neeves, New work, for choir and masterclass
World premiere / Commissioned by Radio France

Benjamin Britten, Children's Crusade, ballad for children's voices and orchestra

Arnold SCHÖNBERG, Friede auf Erden, Op. 13 for mixed choir

Despite its title, Berliner Requiem (1928) is anything but religious. The first collaboration between Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill, it is a tribute to the fallen of the Great War and the Spartakist Revolution. The mention of Rosa Luxembourg was censored for the first radio broadcast of the play. Brecht again inspired Benjamin Britten to write The Children's Crusade, which recounts a little-known episode from the Crusades. In 1212, thousands of faithful wanted to leave for the Holy Land: it was to be the disastrous Children's Crusade. Friede auf Erden, Op. 13 is one of Schönberg's few Christian-inspired works, singing of "Peace on Earth". Offering a semblance of maternal comfort amid all this violence, British composer and soprano Helen Neeves has composed a series of lullabies for the Radio France choir and choirmaster.