Expert: David Froom - 9/26/2006

Question
For some time now I have been a huge fan of a canadaian war documentary called;
"in desperate battle battle for normandy 1944 the valour and the horror"

This documentary uses a few beautiful pieces of music by Gabriel Fauré and so on. In the credits it only lists a few of the musics from the film. Like Gabriel Fauré's 'Requiem' and 'Opus 84' (I cannot seem to be able to find opus 84 online to listen to, to see if that is the piece of music I want but I do not think it is... unless it is).But I really would like to know what is the name of the piece of music played in a few different sections of the documentary.

You can hear it here at this page
http://www.blackhatstation.com/Film/apr98.htm
if you scroll down to "Wav Files and Photos"
then click on the zip file and listen to 'battle05' and 'battle06'. if you listen you can hear small parts of the piece of music I want. I would really like to know the name of the music.

Thank you so much,

Answer
Well, the Requiem itself is listed various places as Opus 84.  Confusingly, Faure's "Pieces Breves" (Short Pieces) for piano solo also is listed as Opus 84.  

I couldn't really hear much on those clips (not much music, pretty far in the background), but I admit also that I don't know the Requiem very well.  

My guess is that the music is from some part of the Requiem.  It is a pretty long piece.  You'd have to listen to it all the way through, paying close attention.  Maybe you'd hear what you are looking for buried in there somewhere.

You can probably get a copy of Faure's Requiem from a local library.  

Happy listening, and sorry not to be able to help more,

David Froom