Christine Schafer, Bernarda Fink, Kurt Streit, Gerald Finley, Concentus Musicus Wien, Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Nikolaus Harnoncourt - Mozart: Requiem in D minor, K626 (2004) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: I. Introitus Requiem
02. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: II. Kyrie Kyrie
03. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: III. Sequentia Dies Irae
04. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: III. Sequentia Tuba mirum
05. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: III. Sequentia Rex tremendae
06. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: III. Sequentia Recordare
07. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: III. Sequentia Confutatis
08. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: III. Sequentia Lacrimosa
09. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: IV. Offertorium Domine Jesu
10. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: IV. Offertorium Hostias
11. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: V. Sanctus Sanctus
12. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: VI. Benedictus Benedictus
13. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: VII. Agnus Dei Agnus Dei
14. Requiem in D minor, K. 626: VIII. Communio Lux aeterna


Beethoven called Mozart's Requiem "wild and terrible", and that's what we get in Harnoncourt's new recording. Ominous dread hangs from every note of the dark opening measures, the Rex tremendae and Confutatis are driven with terrifying strength, and the supplications of the Lacrimosa, with their weeping stabbings of the orchestra, are freighted with emotional power. The Tuba mirum duet of bass soloist and trombone has a beauty almost never achieved in other readings. Nor does Harnoncourt overstep the stylistic boundaries of this classical-era work; rather, the intensity is heightened for being in the idiom of its time. Call it a Romantic reading of a Classical piece that looks forward to a more unbuttoned era. The soloists couldn't be better; the orchestra is first-rate, the chorus, sensational, singing with a sense of color, line, and emotion. Harnoncourt uses the Beyer edition of Süssmayr's completion of the work, and Mozart's unfinished original manuscript can be! accessed via a CD-ROM track, which scrolls as the music plays. This release gets my vote as the best Mozart Requiem on disc, all the more impressive for being a live concert performance in excellent sound.

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