Customer Reviews

Andrew Lloyd Webber - Requiem / Domingo, Brightman, ECO, Maazel

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The trouble with reviewing Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem is trying to compare it to other Requiem's we are all familiar with without doing either work any unjustice. Sure, I hear a definite influence of Benjaimin Britten, perhaps even a little Bernstein Mass, but this is no War Requiem, and comparing it to other settings by Verdi, Berlioz, Faure, Durufle, or Mozart would be useless. Instead, realize this is a work unto itself.

Andrew Lloyd Webber sets the Requiem and Kyrie, Dies Irae, Rex Tremendae, Recordare, Ingemisco, Lacrymosa, Offertorium, Sanctus (Hosanna), Pie Jesu, Lux Aeterna, and the Libera Me sequences of the mass of the dead. Scored for full orchestra (including saxophones), a huge array of percussion (including drum kit), harp, piano, celeste, synthesizer, and organ, this is an orchestration of monumental proportions. The chorus on the recording includes boy sopranos and altos and male tenors and basses along with solos for boy soprano, tenor (Placido Domingo), and soprano (Sarah Brightman). The voices, soloists especially, have extreme ranges (high and low) making this a work requiring virtuosity in the entire ensemble.

As for the music, everyone's perception of death is a different and personal experience, thus, ones idea of "Requiem" music will be completely different from others. You can find some snatches of chant-like material, pure melodiousness, great dissonance, revelry, bombasticity, and prayerfulness in this setting. Andrew Lloyd Webber exploits his talent of creating memorable melodies and uses thematic economy to tie the entire work together. The purity of the boy soprano is announced at the beginning with simple octave and fifth leaps, and frames the work by ending on a similar note. The soloists and their extreme ranges portray great angst and tension, but later turns into jubilation. I truly believe this is a serious work; each section gives a personal visualization of the Requiem text and creates a roller-coaster of ideas. The inclusion of more ethnic/modern drums in some places give the music its own Andrew Lloyd Webber personal spin.

The entire Requiem is rarely performed in its entirety, nonetheless recorded. This CD will probably remain the preferred performance to have until the end of time, and for good reason. It captures the excitement of a premier recording by consummate artists and performers. If you are looking for an interesting, and perhaps revolutionary, choral work, look no further.

This Requiem is one of the best I have ever heard. I would put it on the same level as Verdi's Requiem and Mozart's Requiem. Webber approaches this sacred work with a style all his own, a style which breaks significantly from that of Mozart, Verdi, Berlioz, and Faure. The rushing Dies Irae - Tuba Mirum is certainly unique among the other four major Requiems, as is the "Hosanna". I am no expert in music, but I do own recordings of the Mozart and Verdi Requiems in addition to this one, and in my opinion, Webber's Requiem stands out as a unique work from a unique voice.

Well, the 1 thing that made me put 4 stars instead of 5, was, Placido Domingo seems TOO overpowering... I'm not the person that likes tenors all that much (I'm okay with Andrea Bocelli, though! hehehehe)

Sarah Brightman does a great job in Requiem & Kyrie, and I love her little 45 second duet with Placido. That's wonderful! I'd just buy the CD for that.. Recordae, she does fabulous, as in Hosanna, Offertorium, and Pie Jesu, and it all!

Paul Miles-Kingston does great in Pie Jesu, and especially Rex Tremendae! This whole CD is great though! I'm glad that they didn't have a song just for Placido, though, as they did for Sarah and Paul.

But, buy this CD if you have the chance!

When Andrew Lloyd Webber's father William, a classical composer in his own right, died in 1982, his by that time famous son decided to commemorate his death with a piece of newly composed music. But it was not the musical that ALW had in mind for this intimate occasion; he rather returned to his own classical roots he acquired while frequenting the Westminster music school, where his father was an organist.

The result of this effort is captured on this CD in form of a requiem mass. This precise form, immortalized by the likes of Verdi and Mozart in the past, seems an awkward and a rather risky choice for a composer who became famous by revitalizing the concept and the perception of the modern musical theatre. And yet, the whole piece managed not only to be embraced by the public, but also it established itself as an important contribution to the genre.

All of the mass parts as recorded on this CD manage to invoke the much needed feeling this type of work requires. The opening `Requiem and Kyrie' number, with its gentle tune, a moving chorus accompaniment and the mixture of the capital voices leaves a deep and haunting feeling with the listener. We can oppose such quiet and dark moments with the fiery strength of `Dies irae', whose music captures the dramatic pace of the written word. `Hosanna', on the other hand, is something you would expect out of this composer-a big, lush melody, with strong choral back up and crescendos. One must also make reference to `Pie Jesu', probably the most touching passage in this score, which became the best known part from this whole piece. Its gentle melody works better as a part of the whole score. Nowadays it reached a new generation of listeners when it was recorded by a young soprano Charlotte Church.

One of the sources this requiem draws its power from is its cast. It was conceived for a high soprano, a treble and a tenor. The soloists who sing these voices are of top class. We have Sarah Brightman (who was then married to Lloyd Webber), Placido Domingo (who reached international stardom a couple of years later as one of the three tenors) and a young boy Paul Miles-Kinsgston. Their voices are perfect for the score and make an excellent bland. Lorin Maazel, a world famous maestro, conducted both this recording and the subsequent world premiere performance in February 1985 at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in New York.

Both the album and the single `Pie Jesu' reached the UK top 10 and the critics honored this piece by awarding Andrew Lloyd Webber a Grammy Award for the best contemporary classical piece.

The other important point this score makes is the fact how gifted a composer ALW really is, easily moving between the world of the classical and the musical theatre music, something his detractors have never seem to grasp or appreciate. This CD is therefore both the proof of a talent as it is a successful representative of the genre.

The fans of this style should have no trouble in liking it and it should also make a nice addition to the collection of ALW's work. Also, it may just serve as a much needed comfort during the time of mourning. When my 93-year old great grandmother Monika died this January, this music was a perfect choice to listen to while thinking about the loss of a loved person and commemorating the event in a most personal way. I would like to dedicate this review to the memory of her.

I have no idea what Verdi would make of this. I don't even know what I make of it most of the time- I don't listen to this CD for any religious reason, in fact I'm as reactionary an atheist as you will ever meet. So I'm immune to whatever religious pull this may have. I just don't hear it that way and I honestly don't care how it was intended.

Having said that, this music is unlike anything else you will ever hear. It is grandiose, triumphant, sanguine, and full of anguish. It is one of the most luxuriously evocative pieces I have ever heard. This is the sound of a forgotten world trying to make sense of its looming oblivion. It conjures strange and desolate landscapes in my mind... Hordes of libertines crashing through a city in masks, burning themselves alive and shrieking as they throw themselves from smoking spires... A lonely stooped prophet crossing a desert in some post-apocalyptic world, blindly beseeching the terrible sun for penance... An infernal machine, once abandoned, uses a woman as a musical instrument, invades her mind, body and soul and tries to make sense of the world through her plaintive sighs and disjointed memories... Orphans rummage through the shards of what was once a grand floating-city made of crystal... A ship of fools travels the open seas ceaselessly- in their eyes the ocean is a desert... A small child with bright eyes and a rucksack meanders through these scenes, immune to the chaos, narrating the events with solemn pity, watching over the doomed souls who pass through the story.

I first heard this in a college philosophy class (thanks Dr. Haist!), and was simply awestruck. Again, I've never heard anything like it. Listen briefly to the samples and see if it has a similar effect on you (especially if you care for religious music of this kind). This is something rare.

This was one of the first CDs I bought (I bought it back in 1985)! It's been 19 years already!

I'm not religious at all, but I think that you don't have to be in order to be inspired by this astonishing Requiem. I'm an artist, I paint, and I have quite a selection of great music (from Bach to Morrissey and from Mahler to Gilberto) to inspire me while I'm painting, however I often find myself listening to this recording while I paint! Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Requiem is quite inspiring indeed!

I have other CDs with rather more classic requiems, from Campra's and Mozart's to Faure's and Durufle's, and I love them all, but Andrew Lloyd-Webber's has a certain style and drama that becomes somehow addictive!

The orchestra (English Chamber Orchestra) plays beautifully throughout under the great Lorin Maazel, and both Pacido Domingo and Sarah Brightman (before she became so boringly commercial and dull) sing with great passion, strength and beauty! The treble (Paul Miles-Kingston) in the "Pie Jesu" is truly enchanting!

Although the "Pie Jesu" has become quite popular (and it deserves it for it is really stunning), there are other sections which are amazing too, like the "Requiem & Kyrie", the "Dies irae...Rex tremendae" the "Hosanna" and the "Lux aeterna & Libera me"!

I'm almost sure that this stirring Requiem will someday be remembered as a Requiem for our times!

This requiem was a big hit with the public (although, to be fair, many of the public would buy Pierre Boulez's music if Pavarotti and Brightman sang it), but a flop with the critics. The main two criticisms were that it was derivative and it had no memorable melodies. Well, it may be slightly derivative--but who cares? We can't listen to the Rite of Spring every day. And while it doesn't have many of Lloyd Webber's ultra-romantic melodies a la Cats, I found it to be quite fertile melodically, if a bit repetitive.
The first section--Requiem and Kyrie--is the best of the piece. It's desolate, sad, haunting, and as another reviewer said, conjures up visions of a postapocalyptic landscape. (Quite an achievement from the composer of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat!) The piece begins with a pianissimo low chord and sudden, strange sounds from the flutes and xylophone. Then the flutes start a haunting ostinato, over which the solo treble enters with the main (and only, but oh well) melody of the section (not memorable?!). The melody is sung several times, growing louder each time, until the suddenly a capella chorus is destroyed by a percussion crash. The melody subsides, and the piece ends suddenly.
The Dies Irae is a panicked vision of war, with fanfares on the brass and explosions in the drums. The agitated choral rushing leads into Tuba Mirum, which continues the previous section. The action slows with Quid Sum Miser, which features another haunting melody, sung by the soprano and tenor. The male chorus combines this with the opening fanfare for the Rex Tremendae. Then the treble's melody from the beginning returns unexpectedly, and the section subsides.
After a chorale on the organ, "Recordare" starts with a questioning, searching melody sung by the soprano--but the timpani seek to overwhelm it. The Ignemisco is sung by the tenor, and features a completely new melody that is reminiscent of Verdi. The chorus takes over the "Quid sum Miser" melody, on the "Lacrimosa" text, for a few bars. They are suddenly interrupted by "Confutatis," a brutal, militaristic march led by male chorus, drums, and brass, with blood-chilling screams in the flutes. The march slowly fades, to be replaced by the a capella chorus singing "Lacrimosa"--an inconsolably sad and lonely lament. The section builds to a big climax, but ends peacefully on "Amen."
The "Offertorium" begins with a tranquil chorale, but the organ soon leads the orchestra into a frightening march-fugato. The choir returns afterward, however, and leads into the next section.
The "Hosanna" is the only thing on this disk, except possibly the Piu Jesu, that I would have expected Lloyd Webber to write. It could have come from "Joseph," actually. The tenor sings a pop-like, celebratory melody, which is repeated 5 or so times with different accompaniments, including drums and synthesizer. The celebrating is halted suddenly by the "Recordare" melody, sung with the "Dies Irae" text, which again segues into the next movement.
The "Piu Jesu" was derided by Gramophone as "syrupy sweet," and it is rather sentimental, but a beautiful piece nonetheless. It is a duet for soprano and treble, and was the "hit song" from this piece. The mood is one of gentle supplication.
"Lux Aeterna" opens with luminous percussion, with children's choir singing a mysterious melody that never goes where you expect it to. This is another oft-repeated melody, and it becomes the main theme of "Libera Me," which builds to a huge climax. Then a pause--and the treble melody from "Requiem and Kyrie" appears again. Its presence at this point in the music can bring tears to your eyes--if it hasn't already. The music seems to be fading as the treble repeats "perpetua"--"eternal--but he is suddenly interrupted by monstrous, terrifying organ chords (over timpani roll) that could have come from Phantom of the Opera (Webber's other best piece)--except that the chords are based on the "Recordare" melody! After a pause, the treble continues to repeat "perpetua," a capella, until the piece fades into oblivion.
So--is this a worthy "Requiem"? My opinion, obviously, is yes. I have heard a lot of classical music, from Bach and Beethoven to Tchaikovsky and Mahler to Stravinsky and Penderecki. I am not particularly a fan of Broadway musicals or Pavarotti and Brightman. But I do love this piece. It may not be the "best" or most innovative Requiem ever, but it definitely deserves to be in your collection along with your Mozart, Verdi, Berlioz, Brahms, Faure, and Britten Requiems.

Too many of these reviews set out to answer the question of whether Andrew Lloyd Webber had any business writing a requiem, rather than reviewing this recording. One even mistakes Placido Domingo for Luciano Pavarotti, something not even the most casual dabbler would do. For consumers trying to get a sense of this recording I'll try to cut through the pretentious malarky. This was the premiere recording of Webber's work which was given its first performance with this cast of performers. Webber described this as his most personal work, in which he worked out his complex feelings on the death of his father. He was at the time best known as the composer of "Jesus Christ Superstar" and had not yet written "Cats" or "Phantom of the Opera". His Requiem should be understood in this context of a composer's career trajectory.

Webber's Requiem is not intended to be a massive-scale composition on the order of Verdi, Mozart, Brahms, Mahler, Faure, or Britten. That isn't the sort of composer Webber is and is not what he was trying to accomplish. This is a more intimate setting of the work in similar theatrical terms to "Superstar" expressing the liturgical text in very personal melodious terms. He sets the voices in extreme contrast to one another--the tenor is Everyman (us), praying for and celebrating the imminent release of those pained in death. His joyous "Hosanna . . . Benedictus" is cut across suddenly by the anguished Soprano, who is really the "big picture" voice of judgment in this work. The treble represents the voice of those trapped in purgatory and seeking release through salvation. The tenor thus is a voice that emerges fitfully from the earth to cry out to God, whereas he is continually cut off by the voices of the other soloists who remind us of the fear of judgment, the desolation of purgatory, and the cry from the wilderness to be rescued from abandonment. There are elements of Bernstein and Webber's own musical theater compositions to be found here. It is not the most literal setting of the text as a mass, but it is hardly a failure on its own terms as a theatrical treatment of the liturgy.

Webber was married at the time to Sarah Brightman and wrote this soprano part for her. She was at the height of her career in the period that this was recorded and capable of producing the extreme high tones Webber calls for here. Webber also wrote the tenor part having Placido Domingo in mind. Domingo was at his considerable late-mid career best bloom at the time; Webber took advantage of his vocal warmth and power (and his incisive sense of rhythm) to place him in this work as a voice that pops in and out powerfully to deliver symbolic melodic gestures rather than embed that voice within the work. Paul Miles Kingston, the treble, has a voice of purity and some very resonant overtones which give him a combination of power and innocence.

Critics were not very generous with Webber, any more than they were with much of Bernstein's work. "Stick to the musical theater!" is a common theme with these people who seem to resent anyone with low antecedents daring to try to produce serious music. But as it stands, Webber's Requiem, while not as musically unified as Faure's or Verdi's, does what it sets out to do with returning themes and very melodious passages that express his own personal anguish and grief.

I find myself initially impressed by Andrew Lloyd Webber's music and then, upon becoming familiar with it, find myself less and less interested.

For me, familiarity seems to breed disinterest.

However, I just can't say the same for this Requiem. Is it derivitive? Sure. Have other composers mentioned here written "better" Requiems? I think that would be a fair comment.

But does Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem move me? Yeah. It really does. And I can come back to it, it seems, without the effect having been diminished.

Could this actually be the piece ALW has always been meant to write? I have absolutely no idea.

I just like it.

One quibble: Placido Domingo was too far along in his career here to have sung the music as I suspect Webber had in mind. I realize star power sells CDs, but, for all his talent and musicality, the great Domingo, at this point, was simply unable to sing pianissimo above the staff.

And while there can be no doubt Webber wrote the soprano part for Sarah Brightman, it would be nice sometime to hear a soprano sing this music with a tad more "oomph" to her voice.

But, still, quite an amazing effort.

Well done!

I am a fan of music by Andrew Lloyd Weber usually, and also enjoy listening to requiae as a music form. Having heard "Pie Jesu" from this requiem and finding it most moving and beautiful, I ordered the Weber Requiem. It was indeed disappointing with the exception of Pie Jesu, band 7 on the CD. The remainder of the Requiem, regrettably, should be consigned to the dustbin of History. However, the Pie Jesu as sung by Sarah Brightman was worth the cost of the entire CD.