Bergen Cathedral Choir

Bergen Cathedral resounds with the fragrant notes of a Parisian basilica in a celebration of the unique world of sacred romantic music from France.

The opulent, iridescent music of Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony – which opens the 2026 Festival – emerged from an unparalleled sacred music tradition in France that prized the spiritual and the poetic.

In this concert on their home turf, Bergen Cathedral’s musicians delve into the sensual world of sacred music for choir and organ from early twentieth-century Paris – the musical language that would eventually give birth to Messiaen’s own.

Looming large on the programme is Jean Langlais’s Messe solennelle, a setting of the Catholic Mass for choir and two organs. The composer’s masterpiece, the work also provides the perfect introduction to his distinctive sound world in its combination of Gregorian chant and old church ‘modes’ with thrillingly astringent harmonies and bold expressions.

In and around those works come miniature pieces that leave a deep residue. Maurice Duruflé combines Gregorian calmness with harmonic refinement, while his Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain for organ is a virtuosic and moving work, dedicated to the composer Jean Alain, who was killed at the outbreak of the Second World War. Messiaen’s own concise and beguiling musical depiction of the miracle of transubstantiation – O sacrum convivium – is a musical miracle that can transport mind and body to another place.

Francis Poulenc’s Easter motets portray a deep, personal devotion, we hear glorious organ music from Marcel Dupré, the enigmatic and lyrical Four Motets that conclude with an exuberance matched only by Lili Boulanger’s setting of Psalm 24.

Image: Bergen Cathedral Choir. Photo: Gyrid Cecilie Nygaard

Supported by

Contributors

• Bergen Cathedral Choir

• Kjetil Almenning conductor 

• Sigurd Melvær Øgaard organ

Works

• Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986)
  Méditation pour orgue, op. posthum.

• Jean Langlais (1907–1991)
  From Messe Solennelle, op. 67
  Kyrie
  Gloria

• Marcel Dupré (1886–1971)
  From 4 Motets
  1. O salutaris Hostia

• Jean Langlais (1907–1991)
  From 3 Paraphrases grégoriennes, op. 5
  3. Hymne d'actions de grâces «Te Deum»

• Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
  O Sacrum Convivium, motet

• Jean Langlais (1907–1991)
  From Messe Solennelle, op. 67
  Sanctus
  Benedictus

• Maurice Duruflé (1902–1986)
  From Quatre Motets
  1. Ubi Caritas
  4. Tantum ergo
  Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain, op. 7

• Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)
  From Quatre Motets
  1. Timor et tremor
  2. Vina mea electa

• Lili Boulanger (1893–1918)
  Psaume 24 (Psalm 24), La terre appartient à l'Éternel