Birmingham Bach Choir return to Worcestershire’s historic Great Malvern Priory on Saturday 5 July 2025 for a concert with a distinctly French flavour.
La Belle France will see the respected choir delve into the catalogues of leading European composers Fauré, Poulenc and Debussy for an evening of uplifting song.
Written during 1945-1946, Parisian Francis Poulenc’s song cycle Chansons Françaises, consists of eight pieces. Based around popular traditional folk songs, the cycle boasts wide textures, and brims with a buoyant energy, and beauty, that perfectly suits the spirit of the times.
Written straddling the 19th and 20th centuries, and published as a set in 1909, Claude Debussy’s Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orléans consists of three songs. Though thematically unrelated, each is based around text by 15th century poet Charles, Duke of Orléans, and range from a rich love song (Dieu! qu’il la fait!) to a berating of the winter months (Yver, vous n’estes qu’un vilain).
La Belle France’s programme concludes with Cantique de Jean Racine and Requiem – two pieces by Gabriel Fauré.
Cantique de Jean Racine was penned by Fauré for a composition competition at the Parisian music school he was attending. Winning the then 20-year-old first prize, the gentle Romantic piece calls on a translation of a Latin hymn by 17th century dramatist and poet Jean Racine, and is regularly paired with Requiem.
First performed in 1888, and later revised, the seven-part Requiem in D Minor, Op.48 is arguably the composer’s best known large work. Believed to have been in part inspired by the passing of his parents, Fauré – who altered the tradition religious text associated with such a piece – described it as a “lullaby of death”, a work “dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.”
Says Paul Spicer: “Debussy’s impressionistic language makes his only unaccompanied choral work, the Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orleans, achingly memorable, while Francis Poulenc’s beautifully crafted eight Chansons Françaises gives us a unique take on French folksong.
“But at the heart of this programme are two heart-warming works by Gabriel Fauré, whose Requiem is one of the most deeply-felt choral works of the last century-and-a-quarter. It has deservedly become one of the most popular pillars of the choral repertoire.”
In addition to the French programme, the summer evening concert also incudes the premiere of a new piece by acclaimed British composer Russell Hepplewhite.
Well known for his works for stage, including multiple productions for the English Touring Opera, Hepplewhite’s inspirational Living Voices project sees ten distinguished poets reflect on the nuances of modern life for ten new choral works.
Each individual piece set to be debuted by ten different UK choirs, with Birmingham Bach Choir invited to be the very first to perform Song Of Flight, featuring text by lauded poet and author Jamila Gavin MBE.
Birmingham Bach Choir: La Belle France, is at Great Malvern Priory, Malvern, Worcestershire, on Saturday 5 July 2025. For tickets and more information, see: birmingham.bachchoir.com
LISTINGS
Saturday 5 July 2025
Birmingham Bach Choir: La Belle France
Great Malvern Priory, Church Street, Malvern, Worcestershire WR14 2AY
7pm
Tickets: £28 & £24.64
birmingham.bachchoir.com
Poulenc: Chansons Françaises
Debussy: Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orleans
Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine
Fauré: Requiem in D Minor, Op.48
Additional work:
Solo French organ pieces (titles TBC)
Hepplewhite & Gavin: Song of Flight
Paul Spicer conducts:
Birmingham Bach Choir
Organ: Martyn Rawles
ABOUT BIRMINGHAM BACH CHOIR
As one of the UK’s leading large chamber choirs, Birmingham Bach Choir has been contributing to the musical life of the West Midlands since 1919, making it one of the longest established musical groups in the area. Although the main focus is the Baroque period (especially JS Bach), the choir performs music spanning 600 years, including 20th and 21st century works, and has premiered many new choral works.
2019 was the choir’s centenary, a year which saw them make a series of special appearances, including a Gala Concert at Lichfield Cathedral and a performance for Royalty.
The 2022-2023 Season marked Conductor Paul Spicer’s 30th anniversary with the choir and included the first West Midlands performance of Rachmaninoff’s Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in Liturgical Slavonic in living memory.
Social Media:
facebook.com/Birmingham-Bach-Choir-307760255351/
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ABOUT RUSSELL HEPPLEWHITE
For more information on Russell, see: russellhepplewhite.com/
For more information on the Living Voices project, see: stainer.co.uk/living-voices/
ABOUT GREAT MALVERN PRIORY
For more information, see: www.greatmalvernpriory.org.uk