Putting aside preferences for particular performances of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem in D minor, listeners will benefit from this presentation because it makes clear the differences between the familiar completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr and modern scholarly restorations. Most recordings of the Requiem are based on the Süssmayr version, as edited by Johannes Brahms, so there is no shortage of examples for study. However, recordings of the modern realizations that feature the Lacrimosa as completed by Michael Finnissy, ...
Read More
Putting aside preferences for particular performances of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem in D minor, listeners will benefit from this presentation because it makes clear the differences between the familiar completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr and modern scholarly restorations. Most recordings of the Requiem are based on the Süssmayr version, as edited by Johannes Brahms, so there is no shortage of examples for study. However, recordings of the modern realizations that feature the Lacrimosa as completed by Michael Finnissy, the Amen fugue as worked out by C. Richard F. Maunder, the Sanctus and Cum Sanctis Tuis as envisioned by Robert D. Levin, or the Benedictus as recomposed by Duncan Druce, are infrequently available and not guaranteed to stay in production. Not everyone will want a full performance by men and boys, even though the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, delivers a period-style rendition under the leadership of Stephen Cleobury, and they sound magnificent in the SACD format. Additionally,...
Read Less