Audio Beat Rated 3.5/5 Music, 4.5/5 Sound!
180g Virgin Vinyl High Quality Pressing! Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering!
Among all those sacred compositions that deal with the end of life, Mozart's Requiem penetrates one's heart and soul like no other apocalyptic work. One reason for this is surely the rather mysterious story surrounding its composition, a mixture of truth and legend, which arose during the arduous last months of the ailing Salzburg composer. Although the various developmental stages and the extent to which Mozart's pupils participated in the composition may never be fully clarified, the mystical power of the enigmatic fragments remains constant to this day.
Sir Colin Davis lends an immediate relentlessness to the sounds of despair that is already apparent in the tense, pulsating opening bars, and which is taken to the very limits of playability in the climactic Dies irae. While the swift tempi might appear rather surprising, they serve to dampen any sort of opera-like sentimentality of which many recordings are guilty. The consolatory timbre in the vocal parts make them come across as oases of calm in the prevailing atmosphere of biting cold, fearsome drama, and flickering hope, all of which breathes musical life into this mass for the dead.
"This recording is made more appealing by the top-notch engineering, which has created a sonic spectacular to enjoy even if the interpretation is missing a little something. Captured in London's Watford Town Hall, this is a clear, clean, tonally precise recording that bristles with air and has a wide-open sense of space. The BBC Orchestra is spread out in front, with the soloists in front of it and the choir arrayed behind and almost seeming to surround the listener. Voices are distinct and alive. The strings are silky smooth but with just enough bite to make them believable. The bass is taut, deep and clear, underpinning the playing with a solid foundation."- John Crossett, www.theaudiobeat.com, 3.5/5 Music, 4.5/5 Sound!
Features:
180g Virgin Vinyl
High Quality Pressing
Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering
Musicians:
Helen Donath, soprano
Yvonne Minton, contralto
Ryland Davies, tenor
Gerd Nienstedt, bass
Alan Harverson, chamber organ
John Alldis Choir
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis, conductor
Selections:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Requiem Mass in D minor, K. 626
1. I. Introiutus
2. II. Kyrie
3. III. Sequentia: Dies irae
4. Tuba mirum
5. Rex tremendae
6. Recordare
7. Confutatis
8. Lacrimosa
9. IV. Offertorium: Domine Jesu
10. Hostias
11. V. Sanctus
12. VI. Benedictus
13. VII. Agnus Dei
14. VIII. Communio
180g Virgin Vinyl High Quality Pressing! Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering!
Among all those sacred compositions that deal with the end of life, Mozart's Requiem penetrates one's heart and soul like no other apocalyptic work. One reason for this is surely the rather mysterious story surrounding its composition, a mixture of truth and legend, which arose during the arduous last months of the ailing Salzburg composer. Although the various developmental stages and the extent to which Mozart's pupils participated in the composition may never be fully clarified, the mystical power of the enigmatic fragments remains constant to this day.
Sir Colin Davis lends an immediate relentlessness to the sounds of despair that is already apparent in the tense, pulsating opening bars, and which is taken to the very limits of playability in the climactic Dies irae. While the swift tempi might appear rather surprising, they serve to dampen any sort of opera-like sentimentality of which many recordings are guilty. The consolatory timbre in the vocal parts make them come across as oases of calm in the prevailing atmosphere of biting cold, fearsome drama, and flickering hope, all of which breathes musical life into this mass for the dead.
"This recording is made more appealing by the top-notch engineering, which has created a sonic spectacular to enjoy even if the interpretation is missing a little something. Captured in London's Watford Town Hall, this is a clear, clean, tonally precise recording that bristles with air and has a wide-open sense of space. The BBC Orchestra is spread out in front, with the soloists in front of it and the choir arrayed behind and almost seeming to surround the listener. Voices are distinct and alive. The strings are silky smooth but with just enough bite to make them believable. The bass is taut, deep and clear, underpinning the playing with a solid foundation."- John Crossett, www.theaudiobeat.com, 3.5/5 Music, 4.5/5 Sound!
Features:
180g Virgin Vinyl
High Quality Pressing
Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering
Musicians:
Helen Donath, soprano
Yvonne Minton, contralto
Ryland Davies, tenor
Gerd Nienstedt, bass
Alan Harverson, chamber organ
John Alldis Choir
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sir Colin Davis, conductor
Selections:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Requiem Mass in D minor, K. 626
1. I. Introiutus
2. II. Kyrie
3. III. Sequentia: Dies irae
4. Tuba mirum
5. Rex tremendae
6. Recordare
7. Confutatis
8. Lacrimosa
9. IV. Offertorium: Domine Jesu
10. Hostias
11. V. Sanctus
12. VI. Benedictus
13. VII. Agnus Dei
14. VIII. Communio
