PDA

View Full Version : Your favourite Requiem ?



selby
16-03-2014, 11:33
I've only recently got 'into' classical music and from using Qobuz I seem to be liking Requiem music the best.

Can anyone recommend their favourite albums? recordings?

I think I saw a post from Martin T about how a new piece of equipment he'd bought had opened up one of his favourite recordings so much it 'moved' him.

jandl100
16-03-2014, 12:32
It might be better to post this thread in the Classical Music bit of AOS. :) http://theartofsound.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?44-The-Classical-Section

Requiems - try Brahms, Faure, Dvorak for religiosity. Try Berlioz, Verdi for a huge sense of scale and awe!

Brahms - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-German-Requiem-Johannes/dp/B00002439A/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1394973041&sr=1-2&keywords=brahms+requiem+Klemperer

Berlioz - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Berlioz-Requiem-Hector/dp/B00000JYT7/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1394973088&sr=1-1&keywords=berlioz+naxos+requiem

Gordon Steadman
16-03-2014, 12:35
Its Faure for me.

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conductor David Willcoks.

EMI ASD2358

mr sneff
16-03-2014, 12:44
Its Faure for me.

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conductor David Willcoks.

EMI ASD2358

+1 for the Faure, my favourite recording is the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox with Aled Jones (treble) and Stephen Roberts (baritone). As a bonus it's coupled with another favourite of mine, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms.

losenotaminute
16-03-2014, 12:50
It has to be Mozart for me

spotify:track:2m5dwdhCwAmzyfpIsusSXH

jandl100
16-03-2014, 13:02
Lordy, yes!
how could I forget Mozart? :doh:
My fave is Bohm on DG http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-Requiem/dp/B000001G5A/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1394974885&sr=1-1&keywords=mozart+bohm+requiem

I must admit that the idea of there being a "best" Requiem strikes me as bizzare in the extreme - many of them are very wonderful! :)

losenotaminute
16-03-2014, 13:10
Lordy, yes!
how could I forget Mozart? :doh:
My fave is Bohm on DG http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mozart-Requiem/dp/B000001G5A/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1394974885&sr=1-1&keywords=mozart+bohm+requiem

I must admit that the idea of there being a "best" Requiem strikes me as bizzare in the extreme - many of them are very wonderful! :)

I heard the Mozart Requiem at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh at the end of September last year with the BBC Scottish Symphony and the National Youth Choir of Scotland, conducted by Donald Runnicles. It was the single best concert I have been to in the last year, no question. I can't speak highly enough of the experience. I'm listening to the Requiem now on Spotify with volume turned up to 11 :eek:

jandl100
16-03-2014, 13:22
My most memorable "requiem experience" was Celibidace conducting the Brahms at the Royal Festival Hall in the mid 70s.
It lasted an astonishing 86 minutes (it's usually about 65 minutes) - slow? yes, but absolutely spellbinding.
Celibidace was a genius conductor, no doubt about it, imo.
Sadly, the versions available commercially with Celi conducting come nowhere near to matching that unforgettable experience.

Kember
16-03-2014, 14:06
I'd vote for many of Brahms' German Requiem's recordings - any of Klemperer, HvK (DG, EMI) Herreweghe (Harmonia Mundi). J E Gardiner's effort is no mean thing, either.

P

Andrei
17-03-2014, 00:38
Fauré or Britten's War Requiem depending on mood.

m10
17-03-2014, 07:28
The variety of different approaches to the Requiem is incredible - an endless source of fascination. Don't forget the "other masses"- Beethoven's Missa Solemnis is the equal of any in scale, majesty and power. If you like this kind of big choir, soloists and orchestra spectacular you probably shouldn't miss Mahler's Eighth symphony.

The Fauré, of course a much more subdued and contemplative affair. If you were to consult The Gramophone, they'd probably steer you towards a chamber-sized performance rather than the supposedly discredited orchestral version. However, I have a real soft spot for the Charles Dutoit recording on Decca with the Montreal Symphony and chorus with Kiri Te Kanawa and Sherrill Milnes (although I should probably revisit the Willocks HMV LP for the sake of contrast). The Dutoit is a beautiful, serene performance in spectacular sound.

pimlicoquad
25-03-2014, 00:28
Yes, do include the large church masses in your search. Beethhoven's Missa Solemnis gets another recommendation, as do the Haydn Masses (Creation, Nelson etc). But for a real revelation try Schubert - start at the end with his Mass No. 6 in E flat - there are some extraordinary moments which look forward to much later music. The opening of the Sanctus is just one with some spine-tingling modulationts http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SApA3wsB5I&list=PL03EC8A75A626D00

And then Bach's St. Matthew Passion and B minor Mass, and the list goes on...But for a Requiem, it has to be Britten's War Requiem (in the original Decca recording with Britten conducting).

shane
25-03-2014, 10:08
Can I put in a word here for John Foulds' World Requiem?

Written after WW1, it's a gargantuan piece that was the centrepiece of the Remembrance Day ceremonial from 1923 to 1926, but fell out of favour after that and wasn't performed again for 81 years. Then in 2007 it was revived by the BBC and I heard it on a drive back from Swindon to Plymouth. It was quite simply astonishing.

More info here, previewing the BBC concert: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/composer-john-foulds-the-lost-requiem-399338.html

To my surprise, it's available on SACD here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Foulds-World-Requiem-Jeanne-Mich%C3%A8le-Charbonnet/dp/B000ZBPPXQ

I've also got it as a FLAC file (300+ mb!), which with a bit of head scratching I could put on Dropbox if anyone's interested.

There a YouTube excerpt here:
sPU2A99rR6k

jandl100
25-03-2015, 06:36
A bit of thread resurrection --- I've just come across a site that lists around 5,000 requiems! :eek:

http://www.requiemsurvey.org/requiems.php