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Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 (CD)
Composor: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Performers:
· Christine Schäfer
· Bernarda Fink
· Gerald Finley
· Kurt Streit
· Arnold Schoenberg Choir
· Vienna Concentus Musicus
Audio CD (August 10, 2004)
Recorded: 27 November to 1 December 2003 at the Grosser Musikvereinssaal, Vienna. Click for details
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Deutsches Harmonia Mundi
ASIN: B00022UO9I
What the critics say
Anthony Holden for The Observer, June 27, 2004
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/observer/story/0,,1248033,00.html
Classical CD of the week
Each month seems to bring a new Mozart Requiem - there are now more than 70 in the catalogue - so it has to be something pretty special to stand out from the crowd. Trust Nikolaus Harnoncourt to do just that. No messing around with new versions, uneven soloists, ropy choirs or bored instrumentalists: this is a Requiem as pristine and potent as they come, with outstanding personnel in all departments. Only by way of tempi does Harnoncourt deign to show how hard he's thought it all through - the 'Hostias' is typically original - and the label thoughtfully throws in Mozart's original manuscript on CD-rom. Your cup runneth over.
William R Braun, Opera News, October 2004, vol 69, no.4
It’s hard to believe that Nikolaus Harnoncourt has another trick up his sleeve. Long known for his iconoclastic, historically informed interpretations, he has now recorded a Mozart Requiem that could fairly be called a basic library recommendation. Harnoncourt offers all of the Süssmayr completions, big-name soloists and an adult choir with no boy sopranos. The tuning pitch is not especially low, and there is no tweaking of cadences. This conductor continues to surprise the ears.
Harnoncourt’s tempo choices for the movements without indications from Mozart or Süssmayr are plausible. The Rex Tremendae is aristocratic and amiable, and the Lacrimosa glides along like a gondola ride. Elsewhere, the Benedictus is brisk but still graceful, with enough room to breathe. The only wild card is the Hostias, which dances along, one beat to the bar. But Harnoncourt is careful to maintain forward motion in slow tempos as well. The opening Introit is glacial for an andante, but it has an inner life like a giant heartbeat. The return of this material in the Lux Aeterna has a new, cleansed quality. The Dies Irae manages a controlled fury, resolutely Classical. Harnoncourt is notably successful at forging the six movements of the Sequence into a dramatic whole, but there are also fabulous details along the way. The “oro supplex” section of the Confutatis is like a magic trick, and the choir responds with awe and reverence, while the Domine Jesu has the constant changes of emphasis of a development section.
Much is made of the contrasts possible with period instruments. The reedy basset horns are responsible for a great deal of the special colors of this recording. The trombones sometimes are encouraged to make a nasty sonority, sometimes a valedictory one. The strings can crackle, but they also have great beauty of tone in the Recordare and the Benedictus.
The soloists are self-effacing. They use their considerable skills not to call attention to themselves but to simulate the experience of section leaders stepping out of the chorus for the solos. All have excellent breath control, especially baritone Gerald Finley. Christine Schäfer’s soprano has a Seefried-like clouded quality as recorded here, and Bernarda Fink avoids some of the matronly sounds often heard in the alto part. Kurt Streit, the tenor, is a little more inclined toward operatic phrasing and vibrato than the others, but this is the one Harnoncourt recording in which there is leeway for these things. The members of the Arnold Schoenberg Choir have healthy voices and remarkable endurance and unanimity of ensemble in this performance, which was recorded live in Vienna in 2003.