Customer Reviews

Cherubini: Requiem; Mozart: Coronation Mass / Markevitch

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't believe me. Professional reviewer David Hurwitz raved about this performance of Cherubini's D minor Requiem. I've known the recording since I was a kid, when it was nearly new, and it's always been a benchmark Cherubini performance, and one of Markevitch's best discs. Supraphon recently re-added it to their catalog (the source of the original recording from the mid-1960s). The Mozart is every bit as good as I remembered it--the Lamoureux orchestra and chorus on one of its better days (it could be uneven). Markevitch always seemed to bring the best out of them. Then there's soprano Maria Stader--one of the great Mozart voices who often worked with Ferenc Fricsay

The two-star review leaves me stunned. I read it a couple of times and could only conclude that the reviewer just doesn't know what he's talking about. For starters, why release it? Well, the Cherubini is an undisputed classic recording, AND there is a very solid market for anything conducted by Igor Markevitch. A classical music reviewer should know that. Then we have Markevitch and a very good bunch of soloists doing a solid Coronation Mass. Why in heck wouldn't anyone not release this?

I loathe writing reviews these days but this uninformed and I think almost random abuse of a classic recording--a review for the sake of a review--has prompted me to add a well-deserved five-stars to promote an old friend.

Cherubini: Requiem; Mozart: Coronation Mass / Markevitch is a Deutsche Grammophon recording of Luigi Cherubini's Requiem d moll (1963) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Coronation Mass (1960). The sound quality is amazing even though the recordings are close to 50 years old. Diapason has written the music notes. The lyrics are available in German, Latin, English and French. Being a devout person I loved every second of this recording. Highly recommended. 5/5

This was a wasteful issue. There are so many meritorious DG recordings that could have benefited from the Original Image Bit Processing. Look no further than the Galleria label where such recordings languish. Why did DG pluck these particular performances from obscurity?

As a work, the Cherubini D Minor Requiem is genuinely tedious. Insomniacs, accordingly, might esteem it. Not one melody sticks in the mind. It stands in sharp contrast to the C Minor Requiem, which is a minor masterpiece. For whatever cheesy reason, Cherubini excluded sopranos and altos from the score of the D Minor, thereby defaulting to a male choir. Not only did that effect the palette of the work - it also negated whatever creativity he was hoping to invest in the endeavour.

Nor is Markevitch sufficiently persuasive as an advocate to persuade one that this Requiem is a greater work than what it actually is. A Stokowski is required under such circumstances. Such wizardry is not forthcoming here.

The performance of the Coronation Mass is likewise middling. Neither the soloists nor the scratch orchestra make much of an impression. A defintive performance it ain't.

The best thing about this issue is the cover. Damming, isn't it.