Solistenvereinigung des Berliner Rundfunks, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Helmut Koch - Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K.626 (2017)

Tracklist

01. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Requiem: Introitus-Kyrie: Adagio
02. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Dies Irae: Allegro Assai
03. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Tuba Mirum: Andante
04. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Rex Tremendae: Grave
05. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Recordare: Andante
06. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Confutatis: Andante
07. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Lacrimosa: Larghetto
08. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Domine Jesu: Andante con Moto
09. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Hostias: Andante
10. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Sanctus: Adagio
11. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Benedictus: Andante-Allegro
12. Requiem in D Minor, K.626: Agnus Dei

In a time when authentic Classical practices and scholarly editions of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem in D minor are considered de rigueur, it's instructive to hear how this work was sometimes performed in the middle of the 20th century, before the advent of historically informed performances. Helmut Koch led the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in this 1962 performance, and with an exaggerated sense of reverence and an emphatically serious expression, they gave this work a stodgy and weighty reading that many listeners will find dreadfully sluggish, particularly in comparison with most period-style recordings. Aside from the conventionally fast Kyrie (and corresponding Cum Sanctis), a stormy Dies Irae, and an uncharacteristically speedy Sanctus, the tempos are consistently slow to the point of turgidity, and the music never has a chance to rise to seraphic heights with the thickness of the choruses. Perhaps most egregious to modern ears is the soprano's excessive vibrato in the Introit and the Lux Aeterna, which makes her solos the least attractive passages in the recording. Add to the general heaviness of the performance the inferior recorded sound (which in fortissimo choral sections is overloaded and distorted) and most listeners will reject this as a poor option when there are so many cleaner and brighter recordings available.

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