Pro Defunctis

LUCA Choir

Programme:

• J. Rutter: Requiem
• G. Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine
• V. Nees: gloria patri
• S. Van Steenberge: O crux splendidior
• K. Bikkembergs: Laudes pro defunctis

LUCA Choir's program exudes church and choral music: with John Rutter (1945), Vic Nees (1936-2013), Sebastiaan Van Steenberge (1974) and Kurt Bikkembergs (1963), we situate ourselves at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. With Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) we are still in the midst of late romanticism.

The title of this concert does not immediately give it away, but Kurt Bikkembergs is highlighting John Rutter in 2025 because of his 80th birthday. Reason enough to perform his Requiem, which is 40 years old and thus another celebration. Rutter has a rather eclectic style. His music shows Gregorian influences, elements of jazz and classical stylistic features and is particularly popular in the contemporary choral world. His Requiem (1985) for mixed choir and ensemble, composed exactly 40 years ago, follows - taking some liberties - the structure of the mass: Requiem aeternam - Out of the deep - Pie Jesu - Sanctus - Agnus Dei - The Lord is my shepherd - Lux aeterna

Belgian composers Nees, Bikkembergs and Van Steenberge have also devoted themselves primarily to writing choral music. The ensemble orchestration of the Requiem brought Kurt Bikkembergs seamlessly into the Laudes by his own hand, especially since a Laudes was sung before a Requiem in Gregorian celebrations. The Laudes also echoes the Requiem.

Vic Nees, the champion of Flemish choral music, also wrote a haunting Requiem himself. It served as the lead in 2023 in a memorial to Nees' death and that of other inspiring composers. Kurt Bikkembergs and the choir, however, choose another of Vic Nees' works, his Gloria Patri for choir and solo soprano. By "Gloria Patri”, he refers to the concluding phrase to many prayers, glory to the Father, the Son and the Spirit, as it was in the beginning and now and always. Nees himself called his works "deliberately traditional”. His affinity for Belgian choral life and his specific commitment within the amateur choral world, strongly influenced his compositions.

Like Nees, Bikkembergs and Rutter, Sebastiaan Van Steenberge wrote a new work on a very old text: O Crux Splendidior. He took his inspiration from an image by Jan Fabre: the man carrying the cross. But especially by the play of the sunlight on this sculpture, he was fascinated and challenged to give sound to this play of light. Bright sunlight on an effigy that suffers.... The cello adds an extra dimension to his work.

Cantique de Jean Racine was the work with which Gabriel Fauré ended his education at the École Niedermeyer in Paris, a school focused primarily on performing church music. It was Camille Saint-Saens, himself a piano teacher at the institution, who discovered and encouraged the young talent to compose. Cantique de Jean Racine therefore incorporates all the elements of the education Fauré enjoyed: choir, organ and liturgy.

Therefore this concert is a celebration with a contemplative side. A requiem may be a concluding event, but the memories will remain and live on into the future.