Hauntingly beautiful choral works by Gabriel Faure and Franz Liszt will be presented by the Kirkland Choral Society in two Saturday evening concerts, May 7 at Bastyr University Chapel in Kenmore, and May 14 at First United Methodist Church in Seattle.

Faureʼs Requiem and Lisztʼs Missa Choralis are superb examples of late 19th century masterpieces combining rhythmical plainsong and harmonic melodic lines. Dr. Glenn Gregg, director of KCS, noted that with these works, Liszt and Faure set a new mode by challenging the dramatic tenor of religious music that dominated the earlier 19th century.

Gabriel Faure wrote his popular, soaring Requiem because he wanted to write “gentle music,” different from the sonorous funereal mode that he had played so frequently. He viewed death as “a happy deliverance rather than as a painful passing away.” Originally composed in 1887, the Requiem underwent several revisions, which enlarged the orchestra and added the powerful Libera Me with baritone solo. KCS will sing the familiar 1900 version edited by John Rutter.

Franz Liszt was widely feted as King of the Piano for his public performances, beginning in Vienna at age 12, for composing at the piano from a melody suggested by his audience. Best known today for his dramatic piano works, he also invented the symphonic poem and made radical departures in harmonic tradition. He surprised the music world in his later years with lyrical settings of the mass. The Missa Choralis, originally set in 1865 for a capella voices, was later augmented by minimal organ accompaniment. Gregg says giving voice to this infrequently heard masterpiece is a fitting tribute to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Lisztʼs birth.

Gregg added that both Bastyr Chapel (14500 Juanita Drive, Kenmore) and First Methodist United Church sanctuary (180 Denny Way Seattle) are acoustically superb venues for these works.

Both concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, go to KirklandChoralSociety.org or phone 425-296-0612.