In paradisum

Light and consolation. Musical encounters with Duruflé and Rilke.

• Basel Madrigalists
• Maryna Schmiedlin, organ
• Raphael Immoos, Management

Since the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church has celebrated the feast of All Souls’ Day on November 2 in remembrance of all the deceased.

Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem ends with the hopeful words “To paradise the angels escort you”, a magical moment. An angel’s voice rises from gentle organ sounds, the choir of angels joins in and carries the sound into a chord that dissolves into eternity, as it were. Duruflé’s touching Requiem, which does not shake things up with drama, but offers consolation with a luminous gentleness, is at the heart of this concert by the Basel Madrigalists.

These angelic sounds are accompanied by two works of Nordic influence: Einojuhani Rautavaara’s setting of Rainer Maria Rilke’s first Duino Elegy, in which the angel appears as a figure of a higher reality, and Angelis suis Deus by Vytautas Miškinis – a luminous choral meditation on Psalm 91, which radiates protection and security with its floating harmonies.

PROGRAM

• Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016):
  Die erste Elegie for mixed choir, 1993, based on a text by Rainer Maria Rilke

• Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986):
  Requiem op. 9 for soloists, choir and organ, 1947
• Vytautas Miškinis (*1954):
  Angelis suis Deus, 2006

When: Sunday, 2 November 2025, 4:00 pm

Where: The Basilica

Tickets: Fr. 35.- (15.-) www.eventfrog.ch | box office