There is an Old Belief

There is an Old Belief is a concert of profound and beautiful choral music that reflects on memory, time and the mysteries that have inspired composers for centuries. At its heart are two remarkable masterpieces that ask timeless questions about what it means to remember, to let go and to look beyond ourselves.

The concert opens with Ildebrando Pizzetti's Requiem, one of the hidden treasures of twentieth-century choral music. After a period where the Italian repertoire was dominated by grand operatic works, Pizzetti returned to a starker, more spiritual neo-Renaissance style, heavily influenced by Palestrina and 16th-century polyphony. A rare example of an Italian Requiem written entirely unaccompanied, Pizzetti strips the music back to its bare essentials, fusing early modal scales and Gregorian chant with more contemporary, dissonant harmonies and complex, shifting rhythms.

It is paired with Hubert Parry's Songs of Farewell, widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements in English choral music. Composed during the final years of the First World War, these six settings trace a journey through reflection, wonder and acceptance, including the radiant There is an Old Belief, which gives the concert its title.