Requiem Mozart

The new instrumentation published by Edition Eulenburg in l972 was used as the basis for this recording. This edition attempts to remove the obvious errors in Franz Xaver Süssmayr`s “routine instrumentation” (Bruno Walter), which has been the subject of criticism more or less since he made it at the request of Constanze Mozart, and furthermore to colour it with the hues ot Mozart’s own palette.

In the era prior to recordings, the only way for an audience unable to organize a symphonic performance to get to know a large work was to perform it, or hear it performed, in a chamber or keyboard arrangement. Recordings of arrangements from the nineteenth century have appeared in a steady stream, and while they're no substitute for the real thing, it's interesting to observe the artistry of the individual arrangers.

Even though the 1792 completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr is regarded by many as the standard performing version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's unfinished Requiem in D minor, several musicologists have tried their hands at alternative versions with varying degrees of success. In his masterful edition, Robert Levin preserves all that is reliably Mozart's music, substantially recomposes the inept Osanna fugue, and here and there touches up faulty harmonies and clumsy orchestration. Levin also replaces the cadential close of the Lacrimosa with a completion of Mozart's sketches for an Amen fugue, a feature of this completion that some listeners may find startling, but sufficiently Mozartian and ultimately satisfying as a solution.

As for the Masses, Mozart kept to the traditional plan in six sections (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei), even when the inpression is that the sections are more numerous (as many as 21 in the "Orphanage" Mass), it is actually a matter of sub-sections, of varying number according to the requirements of the particular work, including famous and impressive settings of the 'Laudamus te' and 'Et incarnatus est'.

The repertoire choices here seem curiously conservative, considering the course of Jordi Savall's career in recent years. The answer to that conundrum lies in the date of recording – 1991. Back then, Savall was a much more mainstream kind of period performance performer, so a disc of Mozart's Requiem would have seemed like a logical choice for him, especially given that the year marked the bicentenary of the composer's death.

This 2-CD set contains recordings of music conducted by Gary Bertini when he was chief conductor of the Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne of the West-German Radio Corporation Cologne (WDR). In the Mass in C Minor, the first soprano part is full of virtuoso technical difficulties – especially in the famous “Et incarnatus est” passage – and here legendary soprano Arleen Augér interprets it in an exemplary manner.

As the mysterious opening bars of the Kyrie gradually emerge into the light, we know that this recording of Mozart’s glorious Great Mass in C minor is a special one: the tempi perfect, the unfolding drama of the choral writing so carefully judged, and, above it all, the crystalline beauty of soloist Carolyn Sampson’s soprano, floating like a ministering angel. Masaaki Suzuki’s meticulous attention to detail, so rewarding in his remarkable Bach recordings, shines throughout this disc, the playing alert, the choir responsive, the soloists thrilling. And there is the bonus of an exhilarating Exsultate, Jubilate with Sampson on top form.

Blegen’s technically flawless and musically peerless rendition (Exsultate, jubilate) is a pure celebration of beautiful singing and of the wonder of Mozart’s dazzling masterpiece. The sound is as clear and immediate as if it had been recorded yesterday, and Pinchas Zukerman’s direction is exemplary. Not so exemplary is this version of the Mozart/Süssmayr Requiem, although it certainly is one of the sturdier and more durable performances on disc (and the quartet of soloists is unsurpassed).