Pizzetti Requiem and Reade Seascapes | London Concord Singers

For their Easter concert London Concord Singers will be performing in the historic church of St. Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, whose buildings date from the 12th century. The centrepiece of the programme will be the beautiful unaccompanied Messa di Requiem by the 20th century Italian composer Ildebrando Pizzetti, best known for his operatic setting of T.S. Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral. This will be combined with Seascapes by Paul Reade, Hindemith's Six Chansons and Cipriani de Rore's Descendi in Hortum Meum.

Paul Reade wrote many television scores (for A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Tom's Midnight Garden and the music for The Victorian Kitchen Garden, for which he won the Ivor Novello Award, and the popular signature tune for The Antiques Roadshow) plus a number of ballets for choreographer David Bintley, including Hobsons Choice.

After the Lauridsen settings of Rilke in their Christmas concert, the choir return to Rilke French poetry with Hindemith's Six Chansons. Hindemith's six songs for choir are in his neo-classical style. This promises to make a strong contrast with the luscious textures of De Rore's setting of verses from the Song of Songs.