Requiem Mozart

«A mes yeux, cet enregistrement du requiem est incontounable, la sérénité qui s'en dégage, l'équilibre général, la qualité de l'interprétation tant vocale qu'instrumentale en font une version de premier plan, même si le choix est vaste, ma préférence est toujours restée pour cette version.»

Karl Böhm conducting the Requiem: one of the foremost Mozart conductors of the 20th century in one of Mozart’s most admired works. Singers Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Peter Schreier and Walter Berry join forces to form a brilliant cast of soloists. Taped in 1971 at the Piaristenkirche in Vienna, this is a rare document of outstanding artistic quality.

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).

This double CD makes an excellent introduction to two great works even if other individual recordings might be preferable. This is particularly true of the Mozart in that although the ladies are peerless vocally, Barenboim's conducting is quite heavy and neither Gedda - typically somewhat pinched and throaty at times - nor Fischer-Dieskau - too light and woolly of tone for the bass-baritone required - is ideal.

One old-school Mozart maestro who would have nothing to do with modern notions of Classical ''authenticity'' is Carlo Maria Giulini, a great conductor who has made a specialty of Mozart`s music throughout his long career, which spanned some 23 seasons in Chicago. Giulini`s second recording of the unfinished Requiem Mass-his second with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, even more attentive to his musical desires this time around-must be the slowest ever recorded. As such it is characteristic of the late Giulini manner: The reading is suffused by an ultra-serene religiosity that obeys no rules of performance style other than its own.

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.

Much is known about the special and particular circumstances surrounding the composition of Mozart’s Requiem. 1791 was a tumultuous year, and before Mozart’s life was cut short at the start of December he had composed, among other works, Die Zauberflöte, La Clemenza di Tito, the Clarinet Concerto and evidently this Requiem, although it was left in an unfinished state. If the mist and mystery surrounding both the creation of the Requiem and Mozart’s death have been lifting in recent times, a certain myth still persists….

…Süssmayr, of course, was not the only, or even the first, person engaged by Constanza Mozart to work on her late husband’s unfinished masterpiece. Her first choice was Josef Eybler, another of Mozart’s students, and the one that Mozart had considered more capable. Eybler worked on the orchestration of the portions of the score for which Mozart had written vocal parts and a continuo bass line, but balked at providing original music for the missing sections of the Requiem. Süssmayr then took over, enjoying the advantage of having discussed Mozart’s intentions for the completion of the score with him. It’s entirely possible that the young assistant had a second advantage, namely that he was not sufficiently aware of the implications of the monumental task that Eybler had abandoned and that he was undertaking. There’s an unresolved dispute over his decision to bring the score to a close by repeating the music of the first fugue.

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.

Two great recordings of two of the greatest choral works. Karajan and Levin swoops the standards of tempi, phrasing and intens music making. Karajan's finest recording of the Requiem. Levin sets the bar a milestone higher. Remastering of the Requiem is confidentional good. Sound quality of K427 is superb.