Desenclos, Poulenc, Vilette: Requiem

   in Choir & Organ (Mar, 2014)
Desenclos’s centenary in 2012 passed without much notice outside France and with little excitement in his homeland. His brand of romanticism is perhaps unfashionable now. Wisely, David Trendell doesn’t dwell on the syrupy aspects of the Messe de Requiem, preferring to emphasise its roots in Gregorian chant and its eclectic modernity. The composer did, after all, just live on into the 1970s. It’s brightly, crisply sung. The Poulenc is a highly personal piece, as most of his best works are. The King’s choir lends it a wry intimacy that in no way conflicts with the composer’s grief (at the loss of a friend) or his rapprochement with the Church. In …