Faure's Requiem: Standing Out

There are many piano concertos that have been composed over the years, probably more than you or I are currently aware of. Yet, for some reason, a handful remain memorable to us. These are pieces that, among a very popular genre, stand out. This might be because of their 'superior quality', or it might be because of their meanings to the listening individual.

The same can be said, I believe, for Requiems. This form of music follows the Catholic idea of a mass for the dead, and is essentially about putting a soul to rest. It seemed something popular to compose, perhaps because it brings such an emotive topic to a tradition, allowing lots of compositional freedom. There are many well known ones, for example Mozart's and Verdi's, but I'd argue that Faure's stands out. The language of a lot of other Requiems is arguably one of an epic scale, and yet Faure's never really seems to get too angry. Instead, he combines more romantic orchestral and choral styles with the Latin text, creating something which not only fits with the text but adds meaning to it.

That's not to say it abandons more traditional musical ideas, such as that of use of counterpoint. Instead, things such as this are applied in a new way to create something which is emotionally complex yet deceptively musically simple. Perhaps then, simplicity is the key to 'standing out'.

Of course, this is all merely my opinion. I'm not saying that this work is the best of its kind at all, as that would not be for me to say, and other works of a similar nature may stand out equally for different reasons. It is, however, interesting to note the defining characteristics of such a work and how these can vary even within pieces of music which are all ultimately inspired by and based on the same thing.