Commotio, accompanied by the organist David Bednall, is pleased to return to Keble College Chapel for a concert of music by Desenclos and Hakim, two composers steeped in the French tradition but with contrasting approaches to liturgical texts.
Having sacrificed his early musical studies to support his nine siblings by working as an industrial designer, Desenclos entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1932, winning prizes in fugue, harmony, composition and accompaniment, including the Prix de Rome in 1942. Desenclos' work is highly expressive and atmospheric and rooted in his rigorous compositional technique. His Messe de Requiem, written in 1963 incorporates influences from Gregorian chant as well as rich harmonies based on jazz added-note chords. The work gained some notoriety in 1999, when another composer tried to pass the work off as his own original composition!
Born in Beirut, Naji Hakim also entered the Conservatoire de Paris late, having previously studied engineering at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications. He was mentored by Langlais prior to his entering the Conservertoire, and studied under, amongst others, Rolande Falcinelli, the first female Titular Organist in France at Sacré-Cœur, a role which Hakim fulfilled between 1985-1993 before succeeding Messiaen at Église de la Sainte-Trinité.
Hakim's Messe Solennelle is a glorious, joyful and harmonically rich work, requiring both vocal acrobatics and the technique of a virtuosic organist. Like Desenclos, he also references Gregorian melodies but to a very different effect. Join Commotio and David Bednall for this fabulous feast of French polyphony!