Messa da Requiem
21,95€ excl. shipping
2 CDs
Recording of the legendary performances of Verdi’s MESSA DA REQUIEM on October 8 and 9, 1981 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz.
Total running time: 1 hour and 24 minutes
Made in Italy
Description
Recording of the performances of Verdi’s MESSA DA REQUIEM on October 8 and 9, 1981 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz.
Chor & Symphonieorchester
des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Riccardo Muti, conductor
Jessye Norman, soprano
Agnes Baltsa, alto
José Carreras, tenor
Yevgeny Nesterenko, bass
Gordon Kember, chorus master
Total running time: 1 hour and 24 minutes
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FROM GRAMOPHONE
– Hugo Shirley
This release constitutes the fourth officially available recording of Verdi’s Requiem conducted by Riccardo Muti. It’s a very welcome addition to the catalogue, where it joins the conductor’s fiery studio recording from London in 1979, his larger-scale live La Scala account from 1987 and a more recent Chicago version (CSO Resound, 12/10), also live, which, while demonstrating a more expansive approach to the score, is marred by some poor solo singing.
Dating from only a couple of years after the London recording, and released here for the first time, this Munich concert from 1981 shares the earlier set’s incisiveness and incandescent sense of drama – as well as, in Agnes Baltsa and Evgeny Nesterenko, two of its soloists. The ‘Dies irae’ is every bit as thrillingly fast and furious, with especially imposing brass and excitingly drilled strings, while Muti produces an even greater sense of grandeur in the ‘Lacrymosa’ and gripping drama in the ‘Tuba mirum’ (listen to the BRSO trumpets!). The Bavarian Radio Choir are more imposing but hardly less agile than the Ambrosian Chorus on the London recording, getting around the conductor’s breakneck speed for the Sanctus every bit as impressively.
If the London set occasionally sounds a little harsh and sonically constrained to modern ears, the Munich recording, captured in large-scale, warm engineering, offers something more generous and expansive in feel, even if many timings are similar. BR-Klassik’s booklet relates the conductor’s admiration for both orchestra and chorus, and one can hear why. But while the choral singing is outstanding, the singers – chorus and soloists – are occasionally a little unfocused in the sound picture. Neither Baltsa nor Nesterenko is done any favours as a result: the mezzo lacks intensity in her tone, while the bass is less imposing than in London.
José Carreras is a touch unwieldy and doesn’t blend ideally with his colleagues, perhaps, but there’s an undoubted emotional urgency and directness in his singing; the ‘Ingemisco’, not as stylish as Pavarotti’s at La Scala, is nevertheless rousingly done, and he offers a decent pianissimo in the ‘Hostias’. Jessye Norman, the pick of the quartet, is superb, blending richness with delicacy and a moving seriousness of approach; listen to her in the ‘Quaerens me’ passage of the ‘Recordare’ (from 1’43”, where she and Baltsa blend better than elsewhere), or to her breathtaking way with the ‘Requiem’ section of the Libera me (from 4’43”).
Whether one prefers this to the more drily recorded La Scala performance will, in large part, be down to preference regarding soloists, but, all in all, here’s an all-enveloping performance of this great work that demands to be heard. Highly recommended.
Hugo Shirley, Gramophone
LOS EXCEPCIONALES
– Félix de Azúa | November 2021
En este año que ya termina Riccardo Muti ha cumplido los ochenta. El sello BR (Bayerischen Rundfunks), bandera de la orquesta y coro bávaros, ha decidido hacerle un regalo. En realidad, el regalo nos lo ha hecho a nosotros, los aficionados, porque ha reimpreso con un impecable sonido el concierto que tuvo lugar en octubre de 1981 y que es verdaderamente memorable. Desde su estreno, el Requiem de Verdi fue polémico. Para unos no era católico, para otros no era música sacra sino una ópera. Entre los irritados estaba Wagner, que decía pestes de la obra según cuenta Cosima en sus escritos. Me he entretenido en comparar media docena de versiones y mi conclusión es, modestamente, que los italianos son los mejores. En concreto, el Toscanini de 1938 (no el más divulgado de 1951) y el Muti que aquí comentamos. Ambos son paganos y en cuanto a la fuerza operística de la composición, la acogen con entusiasmo. ¡Qué voces! ¡Qué orquesta tremenda! Ambos van a una velocidad elegante, pero cauta: 88’ Toscanini, 84’ Muti. Nada que ver con la severidad de Bernstein (90’) o el wagnerianismo de Keilberth (también en 1938). Sólo Solti se les acerca. Lo cierto es que la obra es muy difícil de grabar. Verdi la escribió para un coro de 120 voces, orquesta de cien pupitres, cuatro solistas y un bombo gigante. Encima, Muti dobló las trompetas. La grabación es una proeza acústica. Los pianísimos a veces son tenues, es cierto, pero es que los fff rompen las pantallas. Solti, que quiso equilibrarlo más, logró que Leontine Price (¡en 1977!) sonara en el subsuelo. Muti tenía cuarenta años cuando dirigió esta versión inmensa. Espero que haya celebrado sus ochenta con igual entusiasmo que nosotros.
Félix de Azúa, Scherzo, November 2021
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Messa da Requiem
21,95€ excl. shipping
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