Fauré's Requiem | Oxford University Press Choir

The Oxford University Press Choir, formed in 1985, gives two public performances each year, in May and November. Malcolm Pearce has been the Choir's Musical Director since 2010.

The Book of Psalms has provided inspiration for composers and music makers for millennia. Psalm 55, a profound expression of longing for respite, inspired Mendelssohn's anthem, Hear my prayer, famous for having been the source of one of the most successful recordings of all time, when Ernest Lough, chorister of the Temple Church, sang O for the wings of a dove in 1927. Normally heard with its original organ accompaniment, it is performed in the composer's later orchestration, as is with Stanford's settings of the 'Mag and Nunc' in the key of B flat. These are familiar to congregations and choristers alike as the canticles specified in the Book of Common Prayer to be sung at Evensong.

The Requiem Mass has inspired composers for centuries. Musicians and listeners will each have their personal favourites, but Gabriel Faure's luminous setting is likely to top the poll. Its emphasis upon the granting of eternal rest to the departed is crowned by words taken from the Burial Service in which angels lead the soul into paradise. A heavenly theme is also pursued by Vaughan Williams in his 'Serenade to Music', based on words from the opening of the final scene of Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice'. It is one of the composer's most beautiful creations: a dialectic on the effect of music on human nature and a contemplation of the starry heavens and the unheard music of the spheres.