Mozart - Requiem / Auger, Bartoli, Cole, Pape, Wiener Phil., Solti

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Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Best Mozart Requiem recording available April 23, 2003
32 out of 32 found this review helpful

What an event this is. Solti is in top form here conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in a very powerful and fiery performance of this most famous of requiems. While some conductors take the Kyrie pretty slow, Solti kicks it in high gear and keeps it moving. The soloists are all magnificent especially Cole and Pape. The Dies Irae and the Confutatis are more powerful here than I have ever heard them before. The chorus is very fine and sings with power and a lovely round sound. The Lacrymosa and Domine Jesu are incredibly beautiful. This is probably the 2nd best Mass recording ever, right behind Barenboim's Verdi Requiem recording. Get them both and be prepared to be moved in a way you never thought possible.

5 out of 5 stars

Very special performance of Mozart's Requiem November 18, 2005
26 out of 26 found this review helpful

This is a very special performance of Mozart's Requiem, performed for 200 years anniversary of his death, what is remarkable is the fact that it was performed as a real liturgical mass for the dead. Too often we forget that this is a sacred piece, after hearing it so many times in concert halls, it is very sobering to find it placed in the proper context. The opening sound is not of the first bars of Introitus but the cathedral bells, it's little startling, but it sets the right mood perfectly.
This Requiem was recorded live in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, with George Solti as conductor. He died quite soon after this event, I wonder if he thought about his death when he did this recording.
The orchestra he conducts plays great, and the chorus is very good, especially in Kyrie, one of the best I have ever heard. The soloists are wonderful, soprano Arleen Auger, mezzo Cecilia Bartoli, tenor Vinson Cole, and especially bass Rene Pape, you can easily hear why he became so famous since then, he has a gorgeous, deep bass and sings great. Cecilia's singing is just as good, she sings her lines a little different from what you may be used to, just listen to the way she goes down on the word "debit" in Tuba Mirum, even if you have heard this Requiem in hundred different version before, you will really like this fresh approach.
If you are looking for a remarkable performance of Mozart's Requiem, this is a perfect choice. I can't believe that someone would complain about the "verbal pauses"- that is how Requiem is supposed to be performed. This is like a proper funeral for Mozart, he might have been buried in a mass grave after he died, and only 200 years later we finally paid our respect to him with this grand performance. I am just glad he left us this beautiful music.

5 out of 5 stars

Best recording of Mozart's Requiem May 23, 2006
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

Near the end of Solti's illustrious career, I believe that Solti had developed an unparalleled understanding of Mozart's music that allowed him to bring musical and dramatic perfection to his works. While Solti's earlier recordings show a conductor who heavy handedly conducted Mozart as if it were Wagner, the later recordings (especially those after the births of his daughter Claudia and Gabrielle) sound more tamed, more musical, more religious. Solti was famous for his innate sense of rhythm, and not only does his music come to perfection (it does, but unlike Karajan, his music is full of life), but it also allows the meaning of the score to jump out of the page and affect the listeners. This, I can say about his Mozart requiem. I find that the recording is very heartfelt and dramatic where needed. The soloists, as expected of the standard that Solti would choose, are excellent. The chorus, orchestra, and conductor all come together to make a great enterprise such as this work, and for Mozart, Solti does work.

5 out of 5 stars

In Celebration, In Memoriam January 27, 2006
11 out of 13 found this review helpful

Happy 250th Birthday, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! While the world celebrates a year of festivities around the extraordinary composer, it is also a time to recall the life and output of one of the true geniuses of music. This recording of the Requiem was made during a live performance in 1992 at St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Mozart's death. It is not just another of the many recordings of Mozart's Requiem K626, it is a true tribute to the young master. The concept of incorporating the spoken portions of the Catholic Requiem Mass with the musical aspects of Mozart's work may hinder some as disruptive, but taken as a whole the effect is stunning.

Sir Georg Solti (at the end of his brilliant career) conducts the Vienna Philharmonic chorus of the Vienna Staatsoper with elan and profound religious texture. The soloists are superb and include the now departed and deeply missed soprano Arleen Auger, mezzo soprano Cecilia Bartoli bringing her usual intelligent musicianship to her lines, tenor Vinson Cole who sings with a purity of ringing tone, and the now famous bass Rene Pape adding glowing thunder. Not only are the soloists individually excellent but also their emergence out of the orchestral fabric is otherworldly.

The ambience of the cathedral complete with the spoken recitations lend a feeling of solemnity and yet also a spiritual uplifting. And isn't that what Mozart was all about - the beauty of the spirit? This is a beautiful commemoration and whether or not there are other performances of the Requiem in your library, this special recording deserves a special place. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, January 06

5 out of 5 stars

The All Time Best Mozart Requiem October 13, 2005
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Recorded live on December 5th, 1991, 200 years to the day that Mozart's untimely death at age 34, this has proven to be the greatest recording of Mozart's last masterpiece, the Requiem, which he never finished. Mozart's last composition was the Lachrymosa after which he left this earth. It was up to his German pupil Sussmayr to complete the Requiem. Conductor Sir George Solti contracted the elegant and well-endowed Mozartian soprano Arlene Auger, mezzo superstar Cecilia Bartoli, tenor Vincent Cole and bass Rene Pape and a fine Viennese Chorus along with the Vienna Philharmonic to sing the Requiem in conmemoration of the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death. The performance was held in Saint Stephen's Cathedral where the Requiem first premiered. The power in this recording lies not only in the prowess of the singers but in the conducting of the score by Solti. It is given a visceral intensity and spiritual gloss that few Requiems contain. Solti is no stranger to the music of Mozart and while he often treats the music in a grand manner, he does not lose the accuracy of the original intent. In the Requiem, there are only a few moments of true beauty. The opening "Requiem Domine Dona Est" is dark, fatal and ominous with only one lyric beautiful moment given to the soprano. The Lachrymosa has a majestic beauty. The Confutatis, Dies Irae and Rex Tremandea are all frightening in their intensity. This music is a long agonizing moan of pain. Mozart knew his time was up and this music is raging with a kind of fire. Perhaps Mozart fought to live and the music encompasses this struggle. He uses traditional Baroque Requiem format but gives his own flavor by adding Freemason music- note how every powerful line is repeated thrice .."Est Lux Perpetua" and "Rex, Rex, Rex ..". The Dies Irae on here is the most compelling I've ever heard.

Kudos to the talented singers on this album. I have never heard a better ensemble. Arlene Auger specialized in the music of Mozart, his early operatic music and his latter. She is a soprano of beauty and grace and even voluminous power. Cecilia Bartoli has the same kind of power only she has it in the mezzo range. She is also a fine exponent of Mozart and Baroque music. Vincent Cole is a gifted tenor with the right kind of darkness and high timbre and Rene Pape is Sarastro-like in his bass vocal line- all majesty and godliness. Without a doubt, this is one of the greater recording of Mozart's Requiem. Other recommendations I would include are the Barenboim version and the Karajan version from his earlier recordings.

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