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Mozart Requiem Recordings & References

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Last portrait of Mozart, incomplete, by his brother-in-law, Josef Lange
Last portrait of Mozart, incomplete, by his brother-in-law, Josef Lange

Underlined titles are live links


Sir Neville Marriner

Academy and Chorus of St Martin's in the Fields

So far, my favorite recording


Daniel Barenboim, English Chamber Orchestra 1972 

Janet Baker, Sheila Armstrong, Nicolei Gedda, Fischer-Diskau

Audio only digitized from original LP

. Magnificent! The orchestra speaks, choir powerful, soloists gorgeous. 

So far, my favorite recording.

​Leonard Bernstein 1988​

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir

Marie mcLaughlin, soprano · Maria Ewig, mezzo soprano ·

Jerry Hadley, tenor · Cornelius Hauptmann, bass

The completion is by Beyer, not Süßmayr

Among  the slowest tempi ever, and perhaps the most musical—the tempi allow the inner beauty to emerge.

Karl Bohm, 1971

Gundula Janowitz, Christa Ludwig, Peter Schreier, Walter Berry!!

Live, Pierist Church, Vienna

slow, majestic

​​

Sergiu Celibidache & Munich Philharmonic

Audio recording, the slowest Requiem ever? But grand!

Ceilibidache wanted a transcendent experience for the listener, which, he felt,

could happen only in live performance. Some of his concerts did provide audiences with exceptional and sometimes life-altering experiences, including a 1984 concert in Carnegie Hall by the Orchestra of the Curtis Institute that New York Times critic John Rockwell described as the best of his 25 years of concert-going. 

John Eliot Gardiner 2019

Monteverdi Choir - English Baroque Soloists

Barbara Bonney - Anne Sofie von Otter

Choir and soloists all performing from memory.

Transitions from movement to movement heighten the drama.

​Philippe Herrewege 2015

Orchestre des Champs-Elysees La Chapelle & Collegium Vocale Royale

Sibylla Rubens, soprano · Annette Markert, alto ·

Ian Bostridge, tenor · Hanno Müller-Brachmann, bass

Philippe Herrewege 2021

Sonorum Concentus Mozart & Classicism

Expressive text accents and eloquent phrasing

​​

Vienna State Opera Chorus and Orchestra (1953, re-mastered 2023)

Hermann Scherchen conductor

Magda László, soprano  · Hilde Rössl-Majdan, alto ·  Petre Munteanu, tenor  · Richard Standen, bass

Also slow tempi; audio only

Nathalie Stutzmann 2013

​Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo · Coro Acadêmico e Coro da Osesp · Lisa Larsson, soprano · Wilke te Brummelstroete, mezzo soprano · John Mark Ainsley, tenor · Burak Bilgili, baritone

Live

Musical --grainy video that elongates heads

Nathalie Stuzmann 2019

The BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales,

with Fatma Said, Kathryn Rudge, Sunnyboy Dladla and David Shipley

Live

Huge and fabulous choir, all memorized

Colin Davis 2004, Dresden

Expressive dynamics, true to the score

ËVOE MUSIC · Stefan Plewniak 2020

Small choir, fabulous conviction

​​

Philharmonie Salzburg · Elisabeth Fuchs 2023

Chor der Philharmonie Salzburg  · Philharmonie Salzburg

Maria Bernius · Katrin Auzinger · Paul Schweinester · Johannes Wimmer

Live at Großer Saal Mozarteum, Salzburg

Orchestre National de France /Chœur de Radio France,

James Gaffigan 2017

Marita Solberg  · Karine Deshayes ·  Joseph Kaiser·  Alexander Vinogradov

Live at Basilica of St Denis (France)

Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra · Warsaw Philharmonic Choir

Bartosz Michałowski – conductor

Sylwia Olszyńska ·  Agata Schmidt · Karol Kozłowski ·  Adam Kutnye recorded November 01, 2019, Warsaw Philharmonic Concert Hall

large choir, passionate commitment, live performance in gorgeous venue​​​


Mariss Jansens 2017

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Bavarian Radio Chorus

Genia Kühmeier · Elisabeth Kulman · Mark Padmore · Adam Plachetka

live performance starting  at 30'

 Bach Choir & Orchestra of the Netherlands 2015

Pieter Jan Leusink 

Olga Zinovieva · Sytse Buwalda · Martinus Leusink  · Thilo Dahlmann

Live at the Concertgebouw

Small choir, fastest tempi, countertenors in choir and countertenor soloist, Baroque tuning

Jane Glover 2018

Music of the Baroque chorus and orchestra

Live performance at the Harris Theater, Chicago

Arsis Bourgogne · Mihály Zeke,  2017

Live performance

Vienna Philharmonic & State Opera Chorus, Sir Georg Solti, 1991

Arleen Augér, Cecilia Bartoli, Vinson Cole, René Pape

Live, on the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death,

St Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, where Mozart's  wedding and funeral services took place.

Gorgeous piano and pianissimo, and fabulous soloists, to say nothing of orchestra and choir!​​

Riccardo Muti 1989

Berlin Philharmonic, Swedish Radio Chorus & Stockholm Chamber Choir

Patrizia Pace, Waltraud Meier, Frank Lopardo, James Morris

Audio recording, magnificent voice definition in chorus, esp gorgeous bass and tenor

Von Karajan 1975

Vienna Philharmonic, Vienna Singverein

Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Helga Muller Molinari,

Vinson Cole, Paata Burchalazde

Grainy video recording, iconic performance—the only drama is rightfully in the music

Donald Runnicles BBC Proms

Scottish Youth Choir

Levin completion

Commitment and poise of the choir!​



Behind the Notes—Requiem Reference Sources


On the web

David A. McConnell - (2020). A Guide to Mozart Requiem 

The meaning of the texts and portrayal in the music


Debi Simons. Mozart Requiem: Text, Composition and Literary/Historical Background

Biblical and  etymological information.

Why the Communion wafer in the Roman Catholic Church is called the “host”. 

How the idea of light figures into images of heaven. 

What part Abraham plays in Christian doctrine.

Classical Notes: Peter Gutmann—Mozart Requiem

Books

​Gutman, Robert W. (1999). Mozart. A Cultural Biography. Harcourt Brace.


Keefe, Simon P. (2012). Mozart's Requiem. Reception, Work, Completion. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K.


​Mersmann, Hans (1972). Ed. Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Dover


Robbins Landon, H.C. (1988). 1791: Mozart's Last Year. Schirmer, New York, N.Y.


Swafford, Jan (2020). Mozart, The Reign of Love. HarperCollins, New York, NY.

A fabulous biography, all eight hundred pages!


​​Solomon, Maynard (1995). Mozart A Life. HarperCollins, New York, NY.


Steinberg, Michael (2005). Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide. Oxford University Press.

An insightful essay, although i do not agree with Mr Steinberg on the various completions.


Wolff, Christoph (1994). Mozart's Requiem. Historical and Analytical Studies, Documents, Score. Translated from the GermanUniversity of California Press, California.

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