Dones & Taralli: Requiem in Memoriam / Ohbayashi, Spadarotto, Mezzaro, Fabbian, Orchestra d'Archi Italiana
Tactus
CD
$21.99Mar 04, 2022
The artistic event “La Grande Guerra – Requiem in memoriam” (The Great War - Requiem in memoriam) is a mark of profound gratitude and deeply-felt remembrance, created in order to keep alive among all of us today the memory of those who gave up their precious lives on the battlefields between 1914 and 1918. A multitude of young people from both sides, sacrificed on the great altars of homeland and fraternity; a warning for today’s generations and an appeal to life through the vehicle of music, whose ability to touch the sublime opens the door to the infinite and to the essence, reaffirming the longing for peace and hope that we carry with us in our hearts. A unique event, a unique situation, honored by the presence of the major institutional authorities. Hence the idea of a new work that engages with the past using today’s forms of artistic expression, entrusted to two internationally-recognized musicians – Maurizio Dones and Marco Taralli. The result is a fascinating and radiant requiem that appeals on first hearing even to the musical neophyte, being captivating for the performer and easy upon the ear despite its virtuoso touches and rough edges.
Verdi: Messa da Requiem / Karajan, Vienna Philharmonic
C Major Entertainment
Blu-Ray
$22.98$45.99Save 50%Jul 28, 2023
The history of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem’s interpretation is inextricably bound up with the name of Herbert von Karajan. He conducted the work on countless occasions and in this legendary concert he performed it with some of the greatest singers of that time: Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Agnès Baltsa, José Carreras, and José van Dam. Verdi wrote his Messa da Requiem in 1873/74, between Aida and Otello, for Alessandro Manzoni, a poet whom he much admired. Verdi’s Mass for the Dead is not intended for liturgical use but for the concert hall. In addition to its profound spirituality, this masterpiece brings together the finest qualities from Verdi’s operas: endless melodic lines and captivating musico-dramatic effects.
A journey into the spheres of improvisation and traditional requiem chants. Hansjörg Fink and Elmar Lehnen prove to be border crossers, demonstrating that contrasts can be tied together. Age-old tradition meets vibrant, jazzy joie de vivre; composed music meets improvisation; liturgy meets world; spirituality meets sensuality. Fink and Lehnen move assuredly on historic foundations, adding their own, liberal figures. Sombre moments of death appear here in a new, milder light.
A world removed from the grand and awesome visions of the Last Judgement that so often characterize settings of the Mass for the Dead, Brahms conceived a work of 'consolation for those who are suffering'. Having spent more than ten years absorbing this German 'humanist' requiem, this album's performers have meticulously shaped every bar of this compact work, achieving a form of polyphonic transparency that confounds the senses and transcends the universality of it's message.
František Ignác Antonín Tuma was one of the Czech composers to have considerably influenced 18th-century European music. Along with J. D. Zelenka and G T. Muffat, he has been named among the finest pupils of Johann Joseph Fux, and, just like Zelenka, he rubbed shoulders with the political and social elite of his time. He was highly esteemed in Vienna, with his sacred music even serving as a model for younger composers, including Joseph Haydn and W. A. Mozart. A dexterous theorbist and gambist, at the age of 19 Tuma most likely participated in the celebrations marking the coronation in Prague of Emperor Charles VI in 1723. Nineteen years later, in 1742, Tuma's Requiem in c accompanied the soul mass for the self-same monarch on the occasion of the transfer of his remains to the sarcophagus in the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna. At the time, Tuma worked as Kapellmeister of the music ensemble set up by Charles's widow, Empress Elisabeth Christine. The Requiem in D minor, whose instrumentation was commensurate to the significance of the event (the orchestra was enhanced by a cornett, two trombones, a bassoon and two natural trumpets), was again heard at the funeral of Elisabeth Christine herself, in 1750. Tuma enjoyed great respect on the part of Empress Maria Theresa, who probably personally commissioned from him the Miserere in c. It comes as no surprise that following four acclaimed recordings of F. X. Richter's works Czech Ensemble Baroque have focused on Tuma. His music definitely deserves our attention. A requiem for an Emperor - a breath of new life to an Imperial Kapellmeister.
A world removed from the grand and awesome visions of the Last Judgement that so often characterize settings of the Mass for the Dead, Brahms conceived a work of 'consolation for those who are suffering'. Having spent more than ten years absorbing this German 'humanist' requiem, this album's performers have meticulously shaped every bar of this compact work, achieving a form of polyphonic transparency that confounds the senses and transcends the universality of it's message.
Verdi: Messa da Requiem / Luisi, Philharmonia Zurich
Accentus Music
DVD
$41.99Oct 20, 2017
With the "Messa da Requiem“, Christian Spuck brought one of Verdi’s key works to the stage. In a large-scale co-production by the Ballett and Oper Zurich, the German choreographer and director ventured to portray an unusual interpretation of Verdi’s funeral mass in his scenic choreographic production. 36 dancers, the choir and supplementary choir of the Opernhaus Zurich as well as four highly acclaimed soloists joined together under the direction of Fabio Luisi for 13 wide ranging scenes dedicated to one of the most fundamental themes of humanity. Christian Spuck does not seek a mere religious interpretation of the liturgical text. Instead, he is interested in focusing on people who, in their vulnerability and helplessness, are in the search for comfort. In poetic tableaux he deals with basic human emotions and focuses on the feelings of fear, rage, pain, sadness and the search for redemption.
Looking back on the Verdi year of 2013, BR-Klassik has now supplemented its discography with the live recording of a concert highlight of October 2013. + With the Messa da Requiem, the conductor Mariss Jansons is now represented on the BR-Klassik label with Verdi's choral-symphonic legacy. + Together with international soloists Krassimira Stoyanova, Marina Prudenskaya, Saimir Pirgu, Orlin Anastassov and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the Chorus of the Bayerischer Rundfunk is also a fundamental element of the Requiem, and its tonal versatility received special praise from the press. + Giuseppi Verdi’s Requiem, as dramatic a work as are any of his immortal operas and reproached in its day in some quarters as more theatrical than spiritual, was completed in 1874 shortly after the death of the great Italian author and patriot Alessandro Mazzoni, for whom it was performed on the first anniversary of his death.
Verdi begun composition on his Messa da requiem on the occasion of Gioachino Rossini's death and finished it following the death of nationally revered writer Alessandro Manzoni; It received a full performance in 1874 and was an instant triumph. The work itself is stylistically varied, dramatically operatic in some parts and tending toward sacred polyphony in others. This classic recording features the excellent Rundfunkchor Leipzig conducted by the famed operatic and symphonic conductor, Giuseppe Patane.
Brahms: Complete Symphonies - A German Requiem / Landshamer, Boesch, Norrington, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR
SWR
CD
$28.99$37.99Save 25%Sep 10, 2021
Sir Roger Norrington has been chief conductor of the former Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (today the SWR Symphonieorchester) for thirteen years. During this time he has caused a stir internationally with what has come to be termed ‘The Stuttgart Sound’: a synthesis of historically-informed performance practice with the technical capabilities of a modern orchestra. Whether in Mozart, Haydn, Bruckner or Brahms, Norrington has sought to capture the performance experience of the time, adjusting the orchestra’s size and seating plan to create an authentic sound without vibrato. The present reissue of Brahms' four symphonies, recorded back in 2005, is no exception to Norrington's artistic credo of keeping as close as possible to the composer's expectations. And one of the main features – beside the "pure sound" without vibrato – are the quick tempi. Brahms left no metronome indications in his symphonies. However, the overall timings left by the Brahms conductor von Bülow are so short, compared to today, that there can have been no very slow tempi in his interpretations. Additionally, Norrington considered also one of the many hints left by another admired conductor and friend of Brahsm, Steinbach: “By all means conduct the opening of Brahms First Symphony in 6. But it must sound in 2.” 'A German Requiem' is one of the most popular compositions by Johannes Brahms. Although the texts are taken from the Bible, the piece is not part of any ecclesiastical-liturgical tradition, it is aimed – as Brahms himself expressly emphasized – at people “who are in mourning” and unlike the “Requiem”, the Catholic Mass of the Dead, it is not a liturgical prayer for the souls of the deceased, but rather intended to console the bereaved.
A few months before his death in February 2014 conducted by the then 83 year old world famous conductor Lorin Maazel at the Munich Philharmonic, the famous Verdi Requiem. He presided over there " his" orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic Choir and soloists class : Anja Harteros (soprano), Daniela Barcellona (mezzo- soprano), Wookyung Kim (tenor) and Georg Zeppenfeld (bass). The moving concert was recorded on three nights and this may be his last recording of the great conductors will now appear on Sony Classical. The press was then full of praise were " all desires and expectations (fulfilled) that can be put to this work. " (Süddeutsche Zeitung). And the evening paper Munich spoke of a " forceful and convincing " interpretation.
Monsalvatge: Manfred - Bric-à-brac - Sinfonía de rèquiem
Naxos
CD
$9.99$19.99Save 50%Jan 28, 2014
Xavier Montsalvatge's music enriched Catalan culture throughout the second half of the twentieth century, and he remained one of Spain's leading composers. This overview of his orchestral music begins with excerpts from his ballet Manfred, which reveal the important influence of Stravinsky. The ingenious Bric à brac is his last orchestral work, written when he was eighty-one and premièred by the forces who perform it on this recording. The mainly orchestral Simfonia de Rèquiem is one of Montsalvatge's most important and well-known works.
The tradition of composing a funeral mass dates back to the times of the late Middle Ages, but it was brought to artistic perfection by later composers. Alfred Schnittke initially wore the intention of writing a small instrumental Requiem, which was to be one of the parts of the Piano Quintet. Eventually, however, he rejected this idea and created a fourteen-part Requiem. The work is expressive and full of dramatic contrasts. The instrumental parts of electric guitars of a set of drums surprisingly refer to the composer’s polistylist interests. Composed in the same stream, the three religious songs refer to Orthodox church music, introducing a mood of contemplative reflection and prayer reverie.
Lesser known than Mozart and Verdi's Requiem, Donizetti's Messa di Requiem in D minor for the death of Vincenzo Bellini is infused with a deeply felt spirituality, that reveals the feelings of sincere admiration and friendship that he had towards the Sicilian composer, who died prematurely in 1835 in France, where the two were in tour with old and new operas rearranged for the local audience. Unfortunately Donizetti himself did not live long enough to hear his work performed, and the Messa was to be premiered only in 1870 in Bergamo, in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, where Donizetti is now buried. This release was recorded in that same location and the whole cast received very positive reviews, especially tenor Juan Francisco Gatell that sung the famous Ingemisco aria with an excellent use of mezzevoci and coloratura.
Dal Barba: Requiem & Sacred Music / Turco, Ensemble Il Narvalo, Coro Instituzione Armonica
Brilliant Classics
CD
$10.99$13.99Save 20%Oct 28, 2022
Daniel Pio Dal Barba (1715–1801) was Maestro di Cappella at Verona Cathedral, a position he took up in 1762. Before this, he taught at the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona where, on 9 January 1770, he met Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was visiting the city. He enjoyed already a successful career as a composer of operas for two theatres in Verona. There are also numerous references to his work at other theatres in the Veneto and Trentino regions, where he was both a composer and male soprano. Dal Barba's music was highly appreciated for its spontaneous and popular character. He introduced a simple style into the church, far from learned academicism but above all aimed at the common people, pleasing, melodious and harmonious.
This new recording presents Dal Barba’s Requiem, a substantial and dramatic work in which the Dies Irae alone lasts 20 minutes. Also included are a Gloria and a Te Deum. These works are performed by the Coro Istituzionale Armonica, which was founded in 2018 by Alberto Turco in order to perform works by composers that have come to light in the archives of Verona Cathedral. Accompanying them, the ensemble Il Narvalo has already won critical praise for its Brilliant Classics album of music by the Spanish composer, Juan Frances de Iribarren (95859)
Before conquering concert halls with his symphonies, Johannes Brahms made a name for himself as a choral conductor. He led vocal ensembles in his hometown of Hamburg, in Detmold and Vienna, enriching the repertoire with his own music. Composed between 1865 and 1868, Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) is his most extensive choral work and a milestone in his artistic development. In this work, Brahms combined text passages from the Old and New Testaments in an unconventional way: the 'target' of the text and music is no longer the deceased, for whose salvation we pray, but the survivor, who is to be consoled. He thus turned away from ecclesiastical conventions and created a very atypical requiem which has nothing to do with the Catholic Church's often-set Latin requiem mass. Instead, it was conceived from the outset for the concert hall or church concerts. Musically the Requiem draws from earlier traditions in a highly personal way while remaining firmly in a Romantic choral idiom, at times embedded in lush orchestral textures. After countless acclaimed recordings devoted to the religious music of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan now present their unique vision of Brahms's masterpiece.
Originally released in 1998 to good notices, the 'Sinfonia Amabile' Choir and Orchestra conducted by Piotr Wajrak along with the best of the cadre of up and coming singers in Poland with Mozart's canonical Requiem in D Minor. The recording was sponsored by the Straszny Dwór Foundation whose mission is to promote Polish artists, primarily composers, conductors, instrumentalists, singers and dancers, in Poland and around the world.
