Quatre motets sur des thèmes grégoriens, Op. 10: No. 1, Ubi caritas
Maurice Duruflé
Recording
Houston Chamber Choir, Robert Simpson
- Album
- Duruflé: Complete Choral Works
- Year
- 2017
- Length
- Period
- Sacred choral
- Listen
Painting
Albrecht Dürer
Christ Washing the Feet of His Disciples from a set of The Passion, 1595
The piece
Duruflé published his Quatre motets, Op. 10, in 1960, each built on a Gregorian chant. Ubi caritas sets the antiphon sung at the washing of feet on Maundy Thursday for unaccompanied choir, with the chant melody heard first in the altos.
The recording
The Houston Chamber Choir recorded it under Robert Simpson in June 2017 at Rice University's Edythe Bates Old Organ Hall. The album won the 2020 Grammy for Best Choral Performance, and Gramophone's Mark Rochester noted the choir's "highly polished, virtually flawless sound."
Other recordings
The Maîtrise Notre-Dame de Paris under Henri Chalet (Pâques à Notre-Dame, 2022) and the Cambridge Singers under John Rutter (Collegium) also recorded it.