Mozart: Requiem in D minor, K626

Of all the works of Mozart , this is arguably the most famous, most commented, sometimes most controversial or most admired. A musical testament anyway and sublime and desperate attempt to tame death.

In the historical reference version:

Bruno Walter is at the head of the New York Philharmonic and John Finley Williamson as head of the Westminster Choir.

Also featuring Irmgard Seefried, soprano, Jennis Tourel, alto, Leopold Simoneau, tenor and William Warfield, bass.

1SACD & 1CD

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge under conductor Stephen Cleobury presents a compelling second release. Here it performs Mozart Requiem (Süssmayr edition), followed by complete movement realisations by leading composers and musicologists including Michael Finnissy, Robert D. Levin and Duncan Druce. The recording features a stellar line up of guest soloists – Elin Manahan Thomas, Christine Rice, James Gilchrist, Christopher Purves – and the Academy of Ancient Music.

The release also features a unique bonus audio documentary about Mozart’s Requiem, narrated by Elin Manahan Thomas (soprano soloist, who recently toured with Eric Whitacre), with commentary illustrated by extracts of both the Requiem and the works that inspired it.

The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is one of the world’s foremost choirs and unquestionably among the most widely heard. It owes its existence to King Henry VI, who envisaged the daily singing of services in his magnificent chapel. This remains the Choir’s raison d’être, and is an important part of the lives of its 16 choristers, who are educated at King’s College School, and the 14 choral scholars and two organ scholars, who study a variety of subjects in the College. The Choir has been a breeding ground for numerous professional singers, two of whom – James Gilchrist and Christopher Purves – appear as soloists on this recording.

Produced by EMI Classics in partnership with the prestigious National Gallery in London, The National Gallery Collection is a budget-price catalogue series bringing together the very best in fine art and classical music.

The collection features a selection of classical masterworks in celebrated recordings from the EMI Classics catalogue, brought together with great artworks from The National Gallery’s permanent collection.

Mozart’s Requiem is surrounded by mystery and myth: commissioned anonymously by a wealthy aristocrat through an enigmatic ‘grey messenger’, it was left incomplete when the composer died in 1791. For all that, its true power lies in the solemn, yet often impassioned dignity of its musical language. Conducting the Berliner Philharmoniker, two choirs from Sweden and a carefully chosen quartet of soloists, Muti, in the words of Gramophone leads ‘a big-scale reading, dramatically inclined’.

This distinctive recording of Mozart’s last great work can claim to be unique in two defining ways: the use of soloists drawn from the chorus, as in Mozart’s day – including young male singers for the soprano and alto solos – combined with a period orchestra. These are not idle historical gestures. The contemporary virtues of this approach are consistency in the sound-world between chorus and solo ensemble, and homogeneity of style between period ensemble (here the superlative Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment) and period chorus.

The musical text employed is Süssmayr’s completion of Mozart’s unfinished score – what Christoph Wolff has called ‘the only document that represents the genuine musical truth of the unfinished work’.

Jordi Savall’s recordings of Mozart are few and this album reminds us of what we are missing. Recorded in 1991, it bears the signature of Jordi Savall’s talent as a conductor: breadth, clarity, beauty of singing. Mentioned on Building a Library as one for reissue - please!