Classical music: The UW-Madison Choral Union and UW Symphony Orchestra perform the Duruflé Requiem and Kodaly “Te Deum” this coming Saturday and Sunday nights

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By Jacob Stockinger

In Mills Hall this coming Saturday night, Dec. 8, at 8 p.m. and Sunday night, Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m., the University of Wisconsin-Madison Choral Union (below, in a  photo by John W. Barker) and the UW Symphony Orchestra will perform two works: the Requiem by Maurice Duruflé; and the “Te Deum” by Zoltan Kodaly.

The Choral Union is a campus and community choral group that performs once each semester. This spring, it will take part in three performances of the Symphony No. 8, “The Symphony of a Thousand,” by Gustav Mahler with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, where conductor Beverly Taylor is the choral director.

In addition to the chorus and the orchestra there are student soloists.

In the Duruflé Requiem, the student soloists are: Michael Johnson, baritone; and Chloe Flesch, mezzo-soprano (below).

In the Kodaly “Te Deum,” the student soloists are:  Jing Liu, soprano; Chloe Flesch, mezzo-soprano; Benjamin Hopkins, tenor; and bass Ben Galvin.

Tickets cost $17 for the public, $8 for students.

For more information about the works as well as a YouTube video preview of the Kodaly and information about how to obtain tickets in advance or at the door, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/choral-union-the-durufle-requiem/

Beverly Taylor (below), the longtime director of Choral Activities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Mead Witter School of Music who will lead the performances, recently spoke to The Ear about the concert:

“I plan to retire in May 2020, so I’m picking some great music for my last few Choral Union concerts!

“I’ve always wanted to do the Duruflé Requiem, which Bruce Gladstone performed in Luther Memorial Church a few years ago in the organ version. But I knew we couldn’t get a good organ on stage in Mills Hall and still have room for the orchestra.

“I hadn’t realized that Duruflé (below) had written a full orchestra version without the organ, which is replaced by the woodwinds. So it seemed a wonderful piece to do. (You can hear the Kyrie movement from the Durufle Requiem in the YouTube video at the bottom.) 

“Since I have the symphony orchestra only one semester, I ignore holiday music when it comes to programming for the Choral Union, and try to assemble a wonderful evening.

“The Duruflé piece sounds like music by Gabriel Fauré and other late French church works, with its less dramatic text choices and its warmth, lush color and tide-like swells and diminuendos.

“I’ve done the “Te Deum” by Kolday (below) twice before over my 24 years here. It continues to be a favorite, and I use it because I like it, because it’s about 20 minutes long and a good companion piece, and because it shows off the Choral Union so beautifully.

“It’s a work of great contrasts, from a thrilling opening to a quiet middle based on a Hungarian folksong, to a next-to-final fugato and to a very quiet ending.

“The only problem with this program?  Both pieces end quietly!  Can we still get a burst of applause?”

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Posted in Classical music
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