Document Type

Review of a Music Recording

Publication Date

2-2005

Abstract

When conductor Laurence Equilbey established the Accentus Chamber Choir in 1991, she and the group set out to perform unaccompanied repertoire of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this recording of Francis Poulenc's sacred works from 1936 to 1953, one detects a decision well served. Equilbey and the group approach Poulenc's repertoire with a deep understanding of the period, the composer's spirituality and its effect on his creative psyche, and his obvious debts to Stravinsky, Faure, and early Catholic traditions. Poulenc's intensely spiritual sacred works are not easy to reconcile with his earlier secular and more satirical offerings, but Equilbey and Accentus do so with stunningly beautiful results.

Comments

Copyright © 2005 American Choral Directors Association. Printed with permission. All rights reserved.

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