Gounod: Requiem, Messe Chorale

According to Camille Saint-Saëns, Charles Gounod ought to be better known for his church music than for his operas. This gives some idea of the unprecedented quality of his sacred works, to which he devoted not only his unwavering faith but also the highest degree of his musical skill. Gounod s Requiem in particular foreshadows Fauré, Duruflé and Poulenc and constitutes one of the masterpieces of the genre. On this new disc from Mirare, Michel Corboz and the Ensemble Vocal et Instrumentale de Lausanne offer insightful and reverential performances of both the Requiem and the Messe Chorale.