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Recommend Recording
Origin Gregorian Chant
A - B - C - D
- E - F - G - H
- I - J - K - L - M - N - O -
P - Q - R - S -
T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
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Composer:
Gregorian Chant, Pierre Capdevielle
Conductor: Wim van Gerven
Label: Sony - #66278 Audio CD (June 27, 1995) |
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Composer:
Gregorian Chant
Conductor: Richard J. Pugsley
Performer: Br. Mark Bushnell, Wendy Catlin, et al.
Label: Gloriae Dei Cantores - Audio CD (January 23, 1996) |
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Composer:
Gregorian Chant, Anonymous
Performer: Maurice Bevan, John Buttrey, et al.
Label: Harmonia Mundi Franc - #190235 Audio CD (February 12, 1992)
Number of Discs: 3 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Alfred Deller usually is credited with single-handedly
bringing about the revival of interest in early music in this century. The
music on these '70s-era recordings is about as early as you can get,
originating as early as the 10th century, and much of it used in liturgical
functions until recent times. Rather than just a collection of random
chants, Deller and his choir of seven male voices offer several programs
organized into themes, some of which are wedding music, chants to the
Virgin, and funeral elegies. Also included on this three-disc set is a
complete mass, procession music for Vespers, and a Medieval liturgical
drama, the "Prague Easter Play." These fine singers are well suited to
ensemble performance--although aficionados of chant may question the
prominence of the countertenor voices, namely Deller and his son, in this
repertoire. --David Vernier |
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Composer:
Hector Berlioz, Arrigo Boito, et al.
Conductor: Robert Shaw
Performer: John Aler, John Cheek
Label: Telarc - #80109 Audio CD (October 25, 1990) Number of Discs: 2 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
As one would expect, Robert Shaw's rendition of the
Requiem is magnificently polished, with choral singing that is beyond
compare. The drama is not quite as pronounced as with Davis and Munch, but
the work's majestic architecture stands clearly revealed. For once, Telarc's
thunderous, bass-heavy pickup adds something to the sonic picture. --Ted
Libbey |
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Composer:
Hector Berlioz
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Performer: Stuart Burrows
Label: Sony - #47526 Audio CD (July 28, 1992) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Berlioz' Requiem needs a performance of
spontaneous brilliance and almost manic intensity to come off. The reason is
simple. The big movements--the Dies Irae sequence and Lachrymosa--use a huge
chorus and a full orchestra including four brass bands (stationed in the
four corners of the concert hall), eight sets of timpani (10 players), and
additional percussion. After that, everything else sounds anti-climatic,
unless the conductor somehow manages to keep the tension flowing through the
quiet (and, let's not kid ourselves, dull) bits. Leonard Bernstein certainly
manages the impossible, though God only knows how he does it. The recording
helps--it really captures a sense of large forces in a big space, while
projecting the aura of mystery that the intimate moments need if they're
going to work. --David Hurwitz |
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
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Composer:
Johann Kaspar Kerll, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
Conductor: Erik Van Nevel
Performer: James Bowman, Max van Egmond, et al.
Label: Ricercar - #81063 Audio CD (November 1, 1995) |
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Composer:
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
Conductor: Jordi Savall
Performer: Angelo Bartoletti, Eunice Moreira Brandao, et al.
Label: Alia Vox - #9825 Audio CD (December 10, 2002) |
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com
Biber's grand Requiem in A Major was probably written
for the funeral of his employer, Archbishop Maximilian of Salzburg. It is a
celebratory piece, with trumpets (and timpani added by Savall) and rich
orchestration, quite suitable for a heavenbound soul. The quieter moments
("Sanctus") are just as effective as the big ones ("Dies irae"). The CD's
opener, a 13-minute "Battalia" for instruments only, is amazingly colorful
and contains some weird, entertaining dissonances. The performances by La
Capella Reial de Catalunya and Le Concert des Nations are ideal. Biber seems
to be coming into his own lately, and the recent CDs devoted to his work are
very exciting. He was apparently a virtuoso who enjoyed making big
statements; they deserve to be heard. Lovers of "high Baroque" music will be
moved and delighted. --Robert Levine |
Johannes Brahms
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Composer: Johannes Brahms
Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner
Performer: Rodney Gilfry, Charlotte Margiono
Label: Polygram Records - #432140 Audio CD (May 10, 1991) |
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Musical settings of the Requiem understandably encompass a vast expressive
gamut, from Mozart's fear and trembling to the seraphic gentleness of Fauré.
But the focus in Brahms's German Requiem--his first large-scale
composition--is not so much on the departed as on those left behind and the
work of memory. In lieu of the traditional Latin liturgy, Brahms uses texts
culled from the Lutheran Bible that range from despair at our mortal
condition to the solace offered by faith. John Elliott Gardiner and his
forces here attempt to replicate the orchestral sound and style of Brahms's
own time, using period bowing practices for the strings and mellow Viennese
horns, to cite a few examples. The result is a magnificent and deeply moving
performance that features excellent integration of the orchestra and chorus.
Gardiner molds a huge crescendo of imposing terror in the funereal march of
the second movement but always keeps the textures clear and balanced. He
manages to convey both the symphonic scope of this work and its polyphonic
imagination--Brahms looked back to Baroque as well as Renaissance sources
and in the process created a rich and potent new style. Charlotte Margiono's
rosy soprano is angelic but at the same time tinged with a sense of longing
for what has been lost--which makes the musical consolation offered by the
end of the seventh movement all the more profound. Baritone Rodney Gilfry
brings warmth and passionate phrasing to his solos. And presiding over
everything is Gardiner's masterful sense of the work's larger structure: the
path traced by Brahms is revealed with great dignity but is free of
sentimentality. This recording belongs in any basic collection. --Thomas
May |
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Composer:
Johannes Brahms
Conductor: New York Philharmonic
Performer: Kurt Masur, Hakan Hagegard
Label: Elektra/Asylum - #98413 Audio CD (November 7, 1995) |
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Composer: Johannes Brahms
Conductor: Robert Shaw
Performer: Arleen Auger, Richard Stilwell
Label: Telarc - #80092 Audio CD (October 25, 1990) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Robert Shaw, despite being a fine choral conductor, was
often a pretty boring interpreter--like most choral conductors, in fact.
However, there were times that he really put everything together,
particularly in his many fine recordings for Telarc, and this is one of the
best. Of course, it helps that the music itself is largely pretty subdued,
but Shaw directs a performance of exemplary clarity and genuine nobility of
utterance. Gorgeous recorded sound too. --David Hurwitz |
Benjamin Britten
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Composer:
Benjamin Britten
Performer: Peter Pears, Galina Vishnievskaya, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #414383
Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
Number of Discs: 2 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
The composer's 1963 recording remains, after 35 years,
the preferred account, unequaled in its scope and emotional intensity. It
brings together the three soloists for whom the work was written, chosen not
only because of their artistry but because they represented three of the
nations most deeply scarred by World War II--the Soviet Union, England, and
Germany. Benjamin Britten holds the vast forces together, and the superbly
engineered recording captures with chilling exactitude the power and the
nuance of his ardent, visionary interpretation. --Ted Libbey
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Composer:
Benjamin Britten
Performer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Benjamin Luxon, et al.
Label: Telarc - #80157
Audio CD (July 24, 1989)
Number of Discs: 2 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Only a conductor of Robert Shaw's experience could hope
to shed new light on a score the composer himself had so convincingly
presented on record. Shaw finds a meditative gentleness in the music that is
new and touching, and imparts a distant, sad feeling to the climaxes that
deepens their ambivalence. The solo singing is on a par with that of
Britten's recording--the diction is in fact better--and the choral singing
is suffused with Shaw's unique magic. Telarc's digital recording is a bona
fide sonic spectacular. --Ted Libbey |
Gavin Bryars
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Composer:
Gavin Bryars
Performer: Gavin Bryars, Richard Campbell, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #462511
Audio CD (January 12, 1999) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Gavin Bryars's Cadman Requiem is a somber work,
even allowing for its genre. Written for Bill Cadman, a longtime friend of
Bryars who died in the 1988 Lockerbie airline bombing, the piece makes miles
of thoughtful power out of wavering, long string tones that act as a
backdrop for astounding vocals from the Hilliard Ensemble. The slowed
physical motions emphasize the piece's gravity, and the strings are scripted
just in line with the voices, favoring the low end with bruising effect.
There are fearful, almost panic-rich moments, but each recedes into long
tenor-range lines that stretch to the sonic horizon. Having written such
similarly somber pieces as Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet and
The Sinking of the Titanic, Bryars is no stranger to extended works; but
here he juxtaposes his Requiem with eight love poems from Etel Adnan.
Sung by soprano Valdine Anderson, these works get their force from the
casual eroticism and passion of their language as much as from the vocal
delivery. Their opulence is unmistakable and strangely in line with the CD's
opener. The guitar-framed episodes of "Epilogue from Wonderlawn," which the
composer scripted for choreographer Laurie Booth, close out this magnificent
collection. What excellent proof it offers that Bryars, who's labeled
"difficult" by many, can write for the broadest of audiences and still be
meaningful. --Andrew Bartlett |
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Performer(s): Cererols, La Capella Reial, Jordi Savall
Label: Astree
Audio CD (February 8, 2000) |
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André Campra
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Composer:
André Campra
Conductor: Jean-Claude Malgoire
Performer: Gilles Ragon, Dominique Visse, et al.
Ensemble: La Grande Écurie et La Chambre du Roy
Label: Virgin Records - #61528
Audio CD (April 6, 1999)
Number of Discs: 1 |
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Manuel Cardoso
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Composer:
Manuel Cardoso
Label: Gimell - #21 Audio CD (February 12, 2002) |
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Marc-Antoine Charpentier
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Composer:
Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Conductor: Hervé Niquet
Label: Naxos - #553173
Audio CD (May 1, 1995) |
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Luigi Cherubini
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Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi, Luigi Cherubini
Conductor: Philharmonia Orchestra, Ambrosian Opera Chorus - John McCarthy
Performer: Riccardo Muti, Renata Scotto, et al.
Label: Emi Classics - #68613 Audio CD (September 10, 1996) Number of
Discs: 2 |
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Composer:
Luigi Cherubini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performer: Oralia Dominguez, Michel Roux, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #457744 Audio CD (May 11, 1999) |
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Domenico Cimarosa
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Composer:
Domenico Cimarosa
Conductor: Silvano Frontalini
Performer: Ireneusz Jakubowski, Barbara Krahel, et al.
Label: Bongiovanni - #2088 Audio CD (March 15, 1993) |
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Composer:
Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf
Conductor: Georg Ratzinger
Performer: Birgit Calm, Hanna Farinelli, et al.
Label: Ars Musici - #1158 Audio CD (April 16, 1996) |
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Gaetano Donizetti
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Composer:
Gaetano Donizetti
Conductor: Alexander Rahbari
Performer: Jaroslava Horska, Marcello Rosca, et al.
Label: Koch Discover Int'l - #920519 Audio CD (March 17, 1998)
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Maurice Duruflé
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Composer:
Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé
Conductor: Robert Shaw
Performer: Judith Blegen, James Morris
Label: Telarc - #80135 Audio CD (October 25, 1990) Number of Discs: 1 |
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com
The chorus is at center of Shaw's reading of the score,
presumably the more lightly scored 1893 version that Fauré‚ himself created
(Telarc does not specify). The account flows very well, and the work of both
soloists is highly satisfying, particularly Judith Blegen's airy soprano in
Pie Jesu. The recording dates from 1985-86 and is one of Telarc's best, with
excellent presence overall and real bass in the organ. --Ted Libbey
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Antonin Dvorak
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Composer:
Antonin Dvorak
Conductor: Zdenek Macal
Performer: John Aler, Wendy Hoffman
Label: Delos Records - #3260 Audio CD (April 25, 2000) Number of Discs: 2 |
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Composer:
Antonin Dvorak
Conductor: Istvan Kertesz, Nicholas Cleobury, et al.
Performer: Ambrosian Singers, Robert Ilosfalvy, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #448089 Audio CD (June 10, 1997) |
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Composer:
Pedro de Escobar, Francisco de Penalosa, et al.
Label: Emi Records [All429] - #45328 Audio CD (May 20, 2000) |
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Composer:
Gabriel Faure
Conductor: Andre Cluytens
Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Victoria de Los Angeles, et al.
Label: Angel Records - #66946 Audio CD (January 12, 1999) |
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Composer: Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Geremia
Conductor: Douglas Bostock
Performer: Salvatore Fisichella, Katia Ricciarelli, et al.
Label: Classico
Catalog: #225
Audio CD (April 1, 1999) |
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Jean Gilles
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Composer:
Jean Gilles, Michel Corrette
Conductor: Philippe Herreweghe
Performer: Martyn Hill, Peter Kooy, et al.
Label: Universal - #471722 Audio CD (October 8, 2002) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Philippe Herreweghe's 1981 recording of Jean Gilles's
Messe des Morts (Requiem) rescued a once-celebrated work from almost 200
years of neglect. Written in 1697, the piece seems not to have been
performed until the composer's own untimely death, at age 37, in 1705.
Widely praised in France throughout much of the 18th century, the Requiem
was much altered and expanded until at length it fell into neglect.
Herreweghe was the first to seek out the original manuscript and present the
work as written by Gilles, played by his period-instrument ensemble, Musica
Antiqua Köln, accompanied by the Collegium Vocale Gent. The result is a
splendid re-creation of the French Baroque, in which the formality of strict
fugal passages is contrasted with joyful dances and frankly operatic solos.
Michel Corrette's Carillon des Morts from 1764 is the brief filler.
The analogue sound of this disc is pleasant and warm, making the most of the
occasionally scrawny orchestral textures: this was still the early days for
period performance; more modern recordings tend to be a little more refined.
Nonetheless, for anyone with an interest in Baroque vocal music, this
original album remains a rewarding discovery. --Mark Walker
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Louis Theodore Gouvy
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Composer:
Louis Theodore Gouvy Conductor: Jacques Houtmann
Performer: Gerard Garino, Manfred Hemm, et al.
Label: K617 Records |
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Francisco Guerrero
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Composer:
Francisco Guerrero, Gregorian Chant, et al.
Conductor: Michael Noone
Performer: Simon Davies, Robert Evans, et al.
Label: Glossa - #921402 Audio CD (December 15, 1999)
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Composer:
Johann Adolf Hasse
Performer: Ian Honeyman, Greta de Reyghere, et al.
Label: Tete-A-Tete - #20004 Audio CD (November 12, 2002) |
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Michael Haydn
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Composer:
Michael Haydn
Conductor: Helmuth Rilling
Performer: Maria Frank, Martin Klietmann, et al.
Label: Hungaroton - #31022 Audio CD (March 14, 1995) |
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Composer:
Franz Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn
Conductor: Helmuth Rilling
Performer: Michel Brodard, Ingeborg Danz, et al.
Label: Hanssler Classics - #98144 Audio CD (October 7, 1997) |
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Herbert Howells
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Composer:
Herbert Howells, Gabriel Faure
Conductor: Indianapolis Festival Orchestra
Performer: Frederick Burgomaster, Indianapolis Christ Church Cathedral
Choir of Men and Boys, et al.
Label: Gothic Records - #49062 Audio CD (July 24, 1994) |
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Composer: Orlande de Lassus
Performer: Rogers Covey-Crump, David James, et al.
Label: Ecm Records
Catalog: #21658
Audio CD (October 27, 1998) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Many listeners today avoid Requiems, presuming
that funeral masses must be depressing. Not so--many of them, like the
Lassus recorded here, have lovely major-key part-writing and a sweet,
tranquil air. The Hilliard Ensemble captures these qualities beautifully at
the beginning of this disc: the first three tracks contain their most
engaging singing in years. By track four, unfortunately, their dour streak
emerges: however attractive Lassus's writing, it's difficult to stay
involved with performances so aloof. Disappointment turns to serious
frustration with Prophetiæ Sibyllarum (a set of verses purportedly
prophesying Christ's birth). The astounding opening movement changes keys at
least six times in 95 seconds; the reserved singing gives barely a hint that
the music is at all unusual. For the Hilliard Ensemble at their best, try
their Perotin CD; for a good example of Lassus in this mood, try the
Penitential Psalms (Henry's Eight). To hear an engaging, enjoyable
Renaissance Requiem, check out Manuel Cardoso or Duarte Lôbo, both by the
Tallis Scholars. --Matthew Westphal |
Nicholas Lens
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Composer:
Nicholas Lens
Performer: Gary Boyce, Manuel Camachos-Santos, et al.
Label: Sony - #66293 Audio CD (August 22, 1995) |
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Gyorgy Ligeti
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Composer:
Gyorgy Ligeti
Conductor: Michael Gielen, Friedrich Cerha, et al.
Performer: Barbro Ericson, Liliana Poli
Label: Wergo - #60045 Audio CD (September 10, 1992) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Captivating. One of the unique aspects of Ligeti's music
is his ability to project dense, chromatic webs of sound with an almost
Mozartian clarity; this disconcerting sensation is masterfully reproduced in
this performance of Ligeti's Requiem by conductor Michael Gielen. The
finale--calamitous, but strangely withdrawn--represents the composer at his
most dramatic. And yes, this is the music Stanley Kubrick used to accompany
the discovery of the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Also on this
disc are two other essential works, Aventures and Nouvelles
Aventures, highly comic, highly theatrical, justly celebrated choral
works. --Joshua Cody --This text refers to an out of print
or unavailable edition of this title. |
Franz Liszt
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Composer:
Franz Liszt
Conductor: Janos Ferencsik
Performer: Sandor Margittay
Label: Hungaroton - #11267 Audio CD (March 10, 1995) |
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Andrew Lloyd Webber
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Composer:
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Conductor: English Chamber Orchestra
Performer: Lorin Maazel, Plácido Domingo, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #448616 Audio CD (November 14, 1995)
Number of
Discs: 1 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Before Andrew Lloyd Webber's seemingly endless run of
Broadway shows, when he was known primarily for Jesus Christ Superstar,
he managed to write this dramatic, tuneful, occasionally powerful religious
work. Although Lloyd Webber takes some liberties with the text and
organization of the traditional Requiem mass, the result is a unified and
finely crafted composition. There are exciting moments in the "Dies irae"
and in the "Lacrymosa", where voices and orchestra are most effectively used
to convey the desperate yet hopeful feeling of the text. This work isn't
performed much these days in its entirety, but, as in many of Lloyd Webber's
musicals, it produced a "hit" tune--the "Pie Jesu"--whose popularity alone
could have kept the composer living comfortably for the rest of his life.
--David Vernier |
Duarte Lobo
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Composer:
Duarte Lobo, Manuel Cardoso
Conductor: Jeremy Summerly
Label: Naxos - #550682 Audio CD (February 15, 1994) |
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Composer:
Duarte Lobo
Label: Gimell - #28 Audio CD (March 12, 2002) |
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Composer:
Recorded Sound, Benedetto Marcello
Performer: Francesco Moi, Mauro Collina, et al.
Label: Chandos - #637 Audio CD (March 23, 1999) |
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Frank Martin
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Composer:
Frank Martin
Performer: Gottfried Bach, Verena-Barbara Gohl, et al.
Label: Musiques Suisses - #6183 Audio CD (October 30, 2001) |
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Cristobal de Morales
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Composer:
Cristobal de Morales, Alonso Lobo
Label: Polygram Records - #457597 Audio CD (June 9, 1998) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
This is arguably the most impressive recording the
Gabrieli Consort has ever made. Here you have a low-voiced choir,
accompanied only by a bassoon, singing more than an hour of music that is
austere even as funeral masses go--yet it all sounds positively gorgeous.
Paul McCreesh's tempi are slow, but his sensitive phrasing and dynamics keep
the music from ever seeming static. Where most groups rush through
plainchant passages as if they'd rather not have to do them at all, these
musicians take the chant seriously--and make it sound integral to the music
rather than like boring but obligatory preliminaries. As usual, McCreesh
sets the music in liturgical context (a memorial Mass for Philip II of
Spain); the liturgy itself seems a work of art--for example, the gospel
lesson (Jesus and Martha after the death of Lazarus) is unexpectedly
touching. McCreesh has taken music that can seem forbiddingly sober and
shown it to be mournful, powerful, serene, and sweet. --Matthew Westphal |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conductor: Christopher Hogwood
Performer: Emma Kirkby, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #411712 Audio CD (October 25, 1990) |
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Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conductor: Sir Georg Solti
Performer: Cecilia Bartoli, Arleen Auger, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #433688 Audio CD (March 10, 1992)
Number of
Discs: 1 |
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Composer:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
Performer: Maria Ewing, Jerry Hadley, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #427353 Audio CD (July 20, 1989) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
As with his performance of the Mass in C Minor with
these same forces, Leonard Bernstein provides another outstanding
performance, certainly one of the very finest available of this oft-recorded
music. Without indulging in the sort of Romantic mannerisms that sometimes
afflict his Mozart, Bernstein urges his Bavarian forces on to heights of
passion and intensity that never upset the music's natural proportions. A
magnificent disc. --David Hurwitz |
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Starring: Claudio Abbado, Karita Mattila, See more
Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably NOT be
viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.) Format: Color
Rated: NR Studio: Arthaus Musik
DVD Release Date: July 3, 2000 |
| Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com
The packaging labels this disc Mozart Requiem,
but the actual program on the DVD bears the title "Herbert Von Karajan
Memorial Concert," a document of a concert given on July 16, 1999 in
Salzburg Cathedral to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the death of
the conductor. Mozart's unfinished Requiem, as completed by Süssmayr, is
obviously the main work. We are told that other works were performed in
the concert, but not what they were, the only additional pieces included
here being two short arias for soprano, "Betrachte dies mien Herz un
Frage Mich," KV42 and "Laudate Dominum," KV339, beautifully sung by
Rachel Harnisch. In the Requiem, Claudio Abbado summons a deeply
atmospheric performance from the Berlin Philharmonic and Swedish Radio
Choir, and equally expressive singing from his finely matched soloists.
Bass Bryn Terfel is powerfully communicative, soprano Karita Mattila
hauntingly resigned. If not as fiery as if Karajan himself were
conducting, this is still a memorable and rewarding tribute.
The DVD has a wonderfully three-dimensional Dolby-Digital 5.1 sound
mix that brings the Salzburg Cathedral ambience alive, and a stunningly
detailed and clear anamorphically enhanced picture. Documentation is
minimal; no texts, subtitles, or information about either Von Karajan or
Rachel Harnisch is given. There is only one special feature, which is
not documented on the disc: by default the disc offers a standard
multi-camera view, but at a press of the Angle button it switches to a
second set of cameras focused entirely on Abbado. --Gary S. Dalkin,
Amazon.co.uk
From the Back Cover
On July 16, 1999, the tenth anniversary of the death
of Herbert von Karajan, a memorial concert was held in the Salzburg
Cathedral. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Claudio
Abbado, performed Mozart's Requiem in D minor, KV 626, among
other works. Background reports illuminate Karajan's life and work,
demythologize the legends surrounding the Requiem, and portray Salzburg
and its cathedral.
Rachel Harnish - Soprano
Karita Mattila - Soprano
Sara Mingardo - Mezzo Soprano
Michael Schade - Tenor
Bryn Terfel - Bass Baritone
Swedish Radio Choir, Berliner Philharmoniker |
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Composer:
Johannes Ockeghem, Pierre LaRue, et al.
Performer: Jonathan Arnold, Robin Blaze, et al.
Label: Asv Living Era - #168 Audio CD (March 18, 1997) |
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com
Ockeghem's Requiem, the oldest surviving polyphonic
setting of the funeral Mass, is Ockeghem's most famous work, and his most
unusual. The style varies widely from movement to movement: the opening
Introit, very plain and syllabically set, might have been written in the
1430s by Dufay; the rhapsodic duos in the tract Sicut cervus might have been
written 70 years later by Josquin. The chanson "Fors seulement" and the Mass
based on it both have a consistently fluid, melodious style and explore very
low vocal ranges (as does Brumel's exquisitely gloomy setting of the
chanson). The Clerks' Group won a well-deserved Gramophone Award for this
disc, the centerpiece of their Ockeghem series. --Matthew Westphal
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Otto Olsson
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Composer:
Otto Olsson Conductor: Anders Ohrwall
Performer: Anders Andersson, MariAnne Haggander, et al.
Label: Caprice
Number of
Discs: 1 |
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Composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Performer: Eric Alatorre, Kevin Baum, et al.
Label: Elektra/Asylum
Catalog: #94561
Audio CD (October 4, 1994) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
No question, this choir has a sound like no
other, and it's primarily due to the fact that the all-male group uses men
to sing true soprano parts. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
This disc is a perfect example of what happens when everything goes right.
While the opening short five-part motet Gaude gloriosa is beautiful, wait
until you hear the almost unimaginable richness of the voices at the
beginning of the Missa pro defunctis. It's hard to believe that this is
pure, unenhanced choral singing, but it is. And it's a thrilling sound that
resonates deep within. These singers perform with an expressive style that's
perhaps more of the 20th century than the music will easily accept, but
there's no real harm in allowing the soul that lives in the present to
express itself, especially in music so sincere in its blend of the spiritual
and sensual. --David Vernier |
Krzysztof Penderecki
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Composer:
Krzysztof Penderecki
Conductor: Krzysztof Penderecki
Performer: Jadwiga Gadulanka, Piotr Nowacki, et al.
Label: Chandos - #9459 Audio CD (June 18, 1996)
Number of Discs: 2 |
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Zbigniew Preisner
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Composer:
Zbigniew Preisner
Conductor: Zbigniew Preisner, Piotr Kusiewicz
Performer: Piotr Kusiewicz, Leszek Mozdzer, et al.
Ensemble: Marek Mos, Elzbieta Towarnicka
Label: Elektra/Asylum - #24146 Audio CD (February 16, 1999)
Number of
Discs: 1 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Known more for his film scores than for his full-length
concert works, Zbigniew Preisner injects a good dose of his famed film score
methodologies into this recording. Divided into two parts, Requiem
and Life, this work is outstanding in its first nine movements,
capturing soaring choral blasts that startle and hold the ear steadily, as
does the occasional churning organ and the chamber ensemble, which seems to
make far more sound than is possible. The Requiem as a whole is also
stylistically cleaved in two: Life heads wholeheartedly into the
realm of filmic composition (doing so in four episodes). Resolution is
always on the horizon, but the musical tensions seem directed toward a
visual conclusion, rather than any kind of sonic release or resolution. To
that end, the music itself, especially early in Life, is a bit thin.
Maybe it's the alto saxophone, which plays simple figures that get washed
out in the cavernous audio. Or maybe it's the building march-like cadence of
the "Apocalypse "episode, which seems to announce a particular character
without ever producing one. Perhaps it's the desire to create mood
without exploring the complexities. As film music, this is excellent stuff,
easily capable of throwing musical beams on action. As a purely sonic
phenomenon, it's sometimes too much, sometimes too little, and only briefly
balanced between the two. --Andrew Bartlett |
Giacomo Puccini
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Composer:
Giacomo Puccini, Leos Janacek
Performer: Lynette Alcantara, Helen Cole, et al.
Label: Asv Living Era - #914 Audio CD (June 20, 1995) |
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Composer:
John Rutter
Conductor: John Rutter
Performer: Caroline Ashton, Donna Deam
Ensemble: Cambridge Singers
Label: Collegium - #504 Audio CD (February 29, 2000) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Two of John Rutter's most popular large-scale choral
works are paired in this bargain-priced CD. Requiem, his first composition
written without being commissioned, is a convincing affirmation of Christian
doctrine on death and eternal life. It is also a substantial and sincere
work that strives to be widely appealing while preserving a spiritual
context centered on themes of light and consolation. Highlights include "Out
of the Deep," its modal tune and harmonies giving it the flavor of a
spiritual, and the wonderfully gentle and restful 23rd Psalm. Rutter
personalizes his Requiem by adding movements not traditionally part of the
Requiem Mass--passages from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, for
instance--and this proves to be an effective strategy. Rutter's own,
first-class Cambridge Singers are superb, as usual, and soloist Caroline
Ashton steals the show with her heavenly Pie Jesu. The Magnificat shows
Rutter at his most engaging, thoughtful, and adept. His usual canny sense of
tunefulness and rhythmic rightness, flavored with splashes of pop harmony,
accomplish his purpose in the Magnificat: to depict Mary's prayer as a
celebratory occasion rather than a somber one. --David Vernier |
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Composer:
John Rutter
Conductor: Timothy Brown
Performer: Susan Dorey, Christopher Hooker, et al.
Label: Naxos - Audio CD (April 29, 2003) |
Editorial Reviews
Album Description
Produced by the composer himself, this is the first
recording of the original ensemble version of John Rutter’s radiant Requiem.
Written in 1985, the work is not a conventional setting of the Requiem Mass
but comprises a personal selection of texts from the Catholic liturgy and
the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. John Rutter maintains intimate ties with
Clare College and many of his anthems are left as a musical legacy to the
college. Among these are two simple, tender Blessings: Go forth into the
world in peace, dedicated to the choir on the eve of its first tour to
America; and A Clare Benediction, written as a gift to Rutter’s alma mater.
This recording is dedicated to the memory of Christopher Rutter. |
Antoine Reicha
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Composer:
Antoine Reicha
Conductor: Lubomir Matl
Performer: Anna Barova, Vladimir Dolezal, et al.
Label: Supraphon - #110332 Audio CD (April 20, 1994) |
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Composer:
Alfred Schnittke
Label: Praga - #250149 Audio CD (August 15, 2000) |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Alfred Schnittke's work always is fresh and challenging,
even when it seems also willfully obscure. This disc presents two of the
Russian composer's best works in excellent performances by a fine chorus
whose Slavic timbres fit the sense of rootedness in the soil of Europe's
east that pervades both pieces. The Concerto for Choir is a four-movement
work for a cappella mixed chorus, set to a religious text. Each movement has
its own character, and each is full of fetching colors and rhythmic drive.
Also, each has unforgettable moments, such as the second movement's soprano
melody, which floats above a chant-like ostinato; or the echo effect of the
final Amen, the men singing slightly behind the women. The Requiem is, if
anything, even more compelling, bursting with originality, as well as
homages to Stravinsky (the "Kyrie" is straight out of Les Noces) and
Prokofiev (Alexander Nevsky's fingerprints are all over the "Tuba
mirum"). The chorus is joined here by a small, percussion-laden orchestra,
which contributes to the power of the work, as in the militant "Credo,"
whose piercing brass and powerful drums make for the most exciting Requiem
this side of Verdi. --Dan Davis |
Robert Schumann
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Composer:
Robert Schumann
Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner
Performer: Barbara Bonney, Bernarda Fink, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #457660 Audio CD (June 22, 1999)
Number of
Discs: 2 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This lovely, unjustly neglected work should have become
part of the mainstream repertoire long ago. Based on a Persian legend retold
by poet Thomas Moore, the story is an endearing mixture of Western and
Eastern religion. Setting a Christian vision of Heaven in Allah's garden, it
tells of a supplicant tainted not by guilt but by inheritance, who must be
cleansed by compassion and undaunted personal effort to be admitted to
Paradise. The music is basically lyrical, tender, and serene but encompasses
the depths and heights of intensity, lamentation, devotion, ecstasy, and
triumph. A succession of vintage Schumann songs, sometimes bursting into
operatic arias, is held together by often highly dramatic accompanied tenor
recitatives and by long passages melding the solo voices with chorus and
orchestra; the instruments evoke images of sun, moon, flowers, water, even
the clash of war, refuting Schumann's supposed inability to orchestrate. The
singing by both chorus and soloists is beyond praise; the orchestra is
wonderfully transparent but often too subdued, evidently by interpretive
choice. Of the two short pieces, the second is more beguiling for its
mysterious, shimmering atmosphere. --Edith Eisler |
Ronald Senator
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Composer:
Bedrich Smetana, Ronald Senator
Conductor: Joel Spiegelman, Stanislav D. Gusev
Performer: Jan Kratov, Lydia Zakharenko
Label: Delos Records - #1032 Audio CD (May 10, 1994) |
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Charles Villiers Stanford
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Composer:
Charles Villiers Stanford Conductor: Adrian Leaper
Performer: Nigel Leeson-Williams, Peter Kerr, et al.
Label: Marco Polo
Number of
Discs: 2 |
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Igor Stravinsky
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Composer:
Igor Stravinsky
Conductor: Neeme Jarvi
Performer: Raynal Malsam, Michel Brodard, et al.
Label: Chandos - #9408 Audio CD (January 23, 1996) |
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Composer:
John Tavener
Conductor: Martin Neary
Performer: Charles Fullbrook, Alice Newry, et al.
Label: Sony - #66613 Audio CD (October 31, 1995) |
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Innocence, the longest work here, is the least
successful. The bulk of the piece is a catalog of cruelties inflicted by
humankind on innocents--mostly children--set to harsh but generally
monotonous music. But Patricia Rozario is spectacular in a three-octave solo
part, and the ending, with an ethereal chorus and bells depicting the
salvation awaiting suffering innocents, is magical. The shorter pieces are
deservedly among Tavener's most famous. The gentle, beguiling The Lamb
and the powerful Tyger, settings of poems by William Blake, make an
ideal pair. (Where The Tyger's text alludes to The Lamb,
Tavener quotes The Lamb's music to wonderful effect.) The two hymns
to the Mother of God are models of reverent beauty; Song for Athene,
made world-famous at Princess Diana's funeral, is spellbinding. --Matthew
Westphal |
Mikis Theodorakis
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Composer:
Mikis Theodorakis
Conductor: Mikis Theodorakis
Label: Intuition - #3292 Audio CD (March 14, 2000) Number of Discs: 1
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Vaclav Jan Krtitel Tomasek
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Performer(s):
V.J. Tomasek
Label: Multisonic Records - #310395 Audio CD (August 24, 1999) |
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Performer(s):
G. Valentine
Label: Jay Records - #1358 Audio CD (November 13, 2001) |
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Giuseppe Verdi
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Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Conductor: Vienna Philharmonic
Performer: Georg Solti, Joan Sutherland, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #411944 Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
Number of
Discs: 2 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
If you value the drama and terror of Giuseppe Verdi's
sacred masterpiece, you need to hear this. Solti's "Dies Irae" is
overwhelming, the drums pounding and the chorus sounding as if it's writhing
in hell's torments. What Solti's intense, operatic conception lacks in
spirituality it more than makes up for in the way it grips you by the throat
and never lets go. The solo quartet, with one exception, is among the best
assembled in the stereo era. Pavarotti shines, and Talvela's authoritative
basso profundo is a rock-solid anchor. Horne's trademark register break can
be a distraction at times, but she's thrilling. With a more idiomatic
soprano, this would have been an unbeatable foursome, but Sutherland is
sadly miscast here, most damagingly in the "Libera me." Sonics were
demonstration quality in their day and are still competitive with the best.
For a more devotional approach, Giulini is a good choice. Vintage
performances by Toscanini (RCA and Music & Arts) and Serafin on Pearl (the
latter with a true golden age vocal quartet) are desirable, as are stereo
versions by Daniel Barenboim on Teldec and Robert Shaw on Telarc. Solti's
remake for RCA is less attractive; you can't go wrong with this one.
--Dan Davis |
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Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Conductor: Claudio Abbado
Performer: Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna
Label: Emi Classics - #57168 Audio CD (November 20, 2001) |
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com
Verdi's Requiem--certainly one of his most moving,
eloquent masterpieces--was written in honor of the great Italian poet
Alessandro Manzoni, whom he admired enormously both for his writings and
his political outlook. Though its text is the Latin liturgy, it has been
called Verdi's greatest opera because of its basically dramatic
character, as well as his own ambivalent attitude toward organized
religion. Thus, interpretations tend to emphasize its secular or its
sacred aspect, though, naturally, the soloists are trained in the Verdi
opera tradition.
For example, Toscanini's legendary performance, recorded live at
Carnegie Hall in 1951, takes exactly the opposite approach to this
version. Inwardly expressive, noble, devout, pleading, prayerful, yet
with plenty of dramatic intensity, the Toscanini encompasses every human
emotion and offers a synthesis of Verdi's vision of the earthly and the
sublime. The performers on this recording, captured live on the 100th
anniversary of Verdi's death, take the theatrical view. The soloists
swoop and slide, sob and sigh, and overdramatize the fear and trembling.
Tenor Roberto Alagna belts out his part in the best operatic style, the
bass sounds rough, the alto's vibrato wobbles, but soprano Angela
Gheorghiu soars radiantly. The choruses are good, the orchestra is
wonderful, but the dynamic contrasts go from inaudible to ear-splitting.
--Edith Eisler |
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Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Conductor: Robert Shaw
Performer: Diane Curry, Susan Dunn, et al.
Label: Telarc - #80152 Audio CD (October 25, 1990) Number of Discs: 2 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Robert Shaw learned from Arturo Toscanini, and in his
stupendous 1987 recording for Telarc he managed to surpass the master on
some points. He is unerring in his pacing and staging of climaxes, and draws
phrasing and dynamics from the chorus that other conductors can only dream
of. Points are made with exhilarating effect throughout the account: never
has the bass drum in the Dies irae been as splendidly hammered as here, and
the whooping brass in the Tuba mirum is breathtaking. The all-American solo
quartet sounds a bit driven, especially the light-voiced Susan Dunn and
Jerry Hadley, but their contribution is a strong one nonetheless. --Ted
Libbey |
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Composer:
Giuseppe Verdi
Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner
Performer: Luba Orgonasova, Anne Sofie von Otter, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #442142 Audio CD (April 11, 1995) Number of
Discs: 2 |
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This religious masterpiece, composed in memory of the
great Italian novelist Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873), has themes even more
cosmic than any in Verdi's other operas: life and death, heaven and hell,
the Christian vision of humanity's redemption, the end of the world, and the
last judgment. Verdi's music rises to the tremendous demands of this subject
matter; it is music of grandeur, guilt, terror, and consolation, with a
breadth of vision and an intensity of feeling unique in the composer's work
and in religious music. John Eliot Gardiner's is the first recording made
with period instruments, a kind of performance that some music lovers still
dismiss as dilettantism, more concerned with musicological correctness than
feeling and communication. Gardiner's powerful performance blows such
objections away, and this recording takes a rightful place alongside the
best modern instrument versions. --Joe McLellan |
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Encoding:
Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in
other countries. Read more about DVD formats.) Format:
Rated: NR Studio: Emi Distribution
DVD Release Date: May 21, 2002 DVD Features: Live recording at
performances to mark the centenary of Verdi's death (Jan. 25 and 27, 2001)
Angela Gheorghiu, soprano; Daniela Barcellona, mezzo-soprano; Roberto
Alagna, tenor; Julian Konstantinov, bass; Swedish Radio Chorus, Eric Ericson
Chamber Choir, Berliner Philharmoniker; conducted by Claudio Abbado
16-page booklet includes requiem text and liner notes in English, German,
and French
Menus in English, German, and French
Widescreen anamorphic format |
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com
For its sheer power and its precise balance of the
two visions (epic and personal) embodied in Verdi's masterpiece, this is
the Requiem to have. It would be hard to quarrel with anyone who chooses
Leontyne Price in the 1967 Herbert von Karajan recording over Angela
Gheorghiu, or Luciano Pavarotti over Roberto Alagna; the differences are
slight and a matter of personal taste. But this is the most intensely
dramatic of Verdi's works, including no less a climax than the flaming
end of the world, and Claudio Abbado treats the composer's vision even
more powerfully than von Karajan, with a magnificent orchestra and
chorus at his disposal.
Von Karajan's soloists--all world-class and all in their best
years--would be hard to surpass, but Abbado's are also excellent, and
they sing with good tone and the kind of dramatic intensity demanded by
Abbado--and Verdi. EMI's 16-page booklet sets a standard for the
industry. --Joe McLellan |
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Composer:
Antonio Buzzolla, Antonio Bazzini, et al.
Conductor: Helmuth Rilling
Performer: Alexandru Agache, Gabriela Benackova, et al.
Label: Hanssler Classics - #98402 Audio CD (August 28, 2001) |
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Ladislav Vycpalek
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Composer:
Ladislav Vycpalek
Conductor: Karel Ancerl
Performer: Ladislav Mraz, Drahomira Tikalova, et al.
Label: Supraphon - #111933 Audio CD (September 22, 1994) |
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Tomas Luis de Victoria
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Composer:
Gregorian Chant, Tomas Luis de Victoria
Label: Hyperion - #66250 Audio CD (November 12, 1993) |
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Composer:
Tomas Luis de Victoria, Alonso Lobo
Label: Gimell - #12 Audio CD (July 10, 2001) |
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Composer:
Kurt Weill
Performer: Philip Langridge, Nona Liddell, et al.
Label: Polygram Records - #459442 Audio CD (September 14, 1999) Number of
Discs: 2 |
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Composer:
Jan Dismas Zelenka
Conductor: Roman Valek
Performer: Magdalena Kozená, Helena Pellarova, et al.
Label: Supraphon - #52 Audio CD (September 19, 1995) |
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