Beautiful Music Thursday.

Okay, maybe not really a weekly feature (it certainly hasn't been so far).  But I like the "Such-and-Such [day of the week]" that members of my neighborhood have or used to have.  (Ahem--sdede2, I miss Five Things Friday. =P)  And since it's Thursday, and I can't sleep in spite of being tired, and I want to share some beautiful music--Beautiful Music Thursday.

Tonight, a movement from a piece I've mentioned before, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, Op. 48.  Truth be told, I've never heard a requiem by any composer I didn't like.  I suppose it's appropriate; music celebrating an individual's life (and rebirth in the afterlife) ought to be nothing if not moving.  (Nugget of Musical Information for Those Not Quite as Musically Nerdy as I:  In music, "mass" and "requiem" refer to specific forms, just like "sonata" or "song," as opposed to Mass and Requiem--the actual services from which the text for the musical work comes.)

This entire piece is absolutely stunning.  I was fortunate enough to perform it with one of my university's choirs last year, and it's one of my favorite performance memories of college.  My favorite movement is by far the last one, In Paradisum--a requiem in D minor whose final movement is in D major?  Spectacular symbolism, anyone?

Anyway.

I chose not to share that particular part of this work because I feel like you don't get the full effect without listening to the entire requiem first.  Instead, I chose the Pie Jesu.  The only downside is that this movement is for a soprano soloist; you'll have to go listen to another part if you wanna hear Fauré's madd choir writing skillz. 

Without further ado...

Fauré Requiem, Op. 48 - 4. Pie Jesu