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Requiem  by Stephen Benavente - Score & CD

A brand new setting of the Requiem Mass for mixed choir, soprano and baritone solo, small orchestra (or organ with instrumental ensemble)

This Requiem was written with good amateur and/or student voices in mind.  The orchestral parts are also accessible to a good student ensemble and the solo parts are ideally suited to a choir with several strong confident sopranos who would relish the opportunity of being ‘out front’.

REVIEWS of FIRST PERFORMANCE 28/04/07

‘invention and variety of texture abound. It features choral utterances ranging from the restrained to the exultantly full-throated’

'Instrumentally, too, it is variable, with alto flute, clarinet and jazzy trumpet adding warmth, colour and character’

‘to write this sort of Requiem makes musicians envious and the rest of us appreciative and admiring’

‘Requiem deserves to be heard more widely and often. It’s full of beautiful melodies which are delightful to play and there's depth and warmth in the piece’

Requiem

REQUIEM - Stephen Benavente

This setting of the requiem mass follows in the footsteps of those by Fauré and Duruflé.  Generally avoiding the more austere texts, that remind us of the terror and wrath of judgement, here we focus on eternal rest and the perpetual light of heaven.  The soloists have an integral role as mediators, pleading for mercy and the deliverance of souls while the chorus often support with homophonic beseeching, as in the Hostias.

The orchestra too has a supporting role, strings supply an harmonic structure, while woodwind often provide a ‘concertante’ style contrast and brass and timpani add weight to the more dramatic sections as in the Introit and the Libera Me.

The central movements of the mass feature vocal and instrumental soloists.  The Benedictus highlights solo soprano with solo trumpet and strings.  Its mood is almost casual and bluesy, until its final climax.  The Pie Jesu for Soprano and Baritone soli with clarinet obligatto is designed to resemble a spiritual.  This is heightened by the brief entries of the chorus.

The final section of the mass invokes a chorus of angels to receive departed souls in paradise.  Featuring soprano voices with short solo horn and solo oboe passages, the requiem ends as it began with alto flute and harp accompanying the fading final notes of the chorus.