Customer Reviews

Requiem

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

 

 

There are two versions of this exact same performance available. This set is priced currently at about 11 bucks more. The only real difference I can see between the two is the size of the booklet. In this set you see text translations, a breakdown of the work and some photos of the performance. Unless this is your first requiem recording or spend hours digesting info in the cd booklets, I would recommend getting the other version of the cd which has a black cover and is part of the Barenboim 50 years collection, and save some dough. Now, to the performance.

Wow! What a combinaton of talents, Barenboim, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Placido Domingo. What you will notice first on this recording is that Barenboim has used the perfect balance between orchestra and chorus. The orchestra has a marvelosly unifed sound as does the chorus who's diction speaks clearly and controlled. The Dies Irae and Tuba Mirum are absolutely perfect. Domingo soars on the Ingemisco with a beautifully rounded and mature voice, although this should not come as a surprise as he has established himself as one of the finest Verdi tenors in the history of music. Furlanetto has a very dark and dry bass voice that fits perfectly into Verdi's musical texture. Marc and Meier are also very capable soloists who were very appropriately cast for these roles. The sound on this recording is also top notch and lets you feel the beauty, the sorrow, and the rage. I don't know of any recording of the Verdi that even comes close to the attention to detail or the sheer power on this recording. If you own the Gergiev or Solti recording or the 2nd Solti recording, buy this and listen to what you've been missing. And, if you're worried that Barenboim might take the tempi too slow as he has been known to do, listen to a sample of the Dies Irae and let those worries vanish. Highly Recommended!

Alessandra Marc's voice makes me notice I have nerve endings in my tailbone: I don't know how many times I've played Libera Me and Agnus Dei now, but they still give me chills up the spine.

The work itself is grand: It's hard not to be aroused when "Dies Irae". The music sprints up that hill and rolls down on the pebbles on the other side. And over again.

These two polarities define the work in a way that appeals strongly to me: The calmly beautiful contrasted with the unrestrained power.

It is only a week since the radio assaulted my senses with this music, and already it threatens to replace Mozart's Requiem as my favourite classical work.

This is my absolute favorite piece of choral music and I was very excited when I started listening to it. I got it because I wanted a newer higher quality recording. The balance between chorus and orchestra is perfect - something so difficult to find with a chorus and orchestra of this size. I love the tempo. However it has one major flaw that frankly ruins this entire album, and that is the quality of the Soprano soloist. There are so many places that where her intonation is 1/4 tone or more off that I was shocked it made it onto a professional recording. Her climactic note in the Libera Me, the most shimmering note in the entire piece, is a full 1/2 tone off. I was so dismayed. It's such a shame because the rest of the soloists are amazing, especially Placido Domingo.

This is the best rendition of Verdi's Requiem that I have heard. All of the singers are amazing! I highly recommend getting this CD. I could not have been happier with it.

I have often held forth on the merits of this recording of Verdi's Requiem. I was not a fan of Barenboim's tenure in Chicago, having worked there during the Solti years. Barenboim's influence was, I still think, detrimental to the entire organization. However, he surprised me with this splendid Requiem.

I read here that some people found Alessandra Marc to be a major blot on this set. I disagree, but then I am a big fan of hers and regret her early retirement from the theaters and concert halls of the world. One of the saddest Might Have Beens for me is her Wagner work with the late lamented Giuseppe Sinopoli. Surely we would have had her Brünnhilde with him in a commercial recording had he lived, and Isolde, probably. She and Sinopoli had performed Turandot in Copenhagen just months before his untimely death while conducting Aida in Berlin. I have an off-air tape of that event in Denmark which I treasure. Marc is in much finer voice there than she is on the commercially available recording.

It is good to have her here in the Italian repertory. She possesses that dark, voluptuous burgundy voice that I think suits the drama of this piece so well. Her critics thought she sang flat occasionally and scooped as well. She did and does so to a limited degree on this recording, but the flatness is fleeting and diminished by the enveloping richness of her sound and is not a problem for me. It's like loving Callas, you accept her warts and all for the impact of the overall performance.

Waltraud Meier is known primarily for her Ortruds and Kundrys, but she proves here that she is a highly capable, even outstanding Verdian. Her more vinegary instrument compliments the chocolaty richness of Marc and they make a piquant team in their duet together.

Domingo is splendid, in his late prime and Ferruccio Furlanetto is captured at his steadiest, no wobbling or wooly woofing as he can be at times.

There is no need to describe the beauty and power of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and Orchestra. The Erato sound is superb.

I have 10 recordings of this masterpiece, having culled out a number of others that weren't up to the mark in an over-stuffed Verdi Requiem shelf. There is something monumental and just-right about Serafin's set from Rome in 1939 with Maria Caniglia, Ebe Stignani, Beniamino Gigli and Ezio Pinza. I think that, in spite of the limited sonics, which are still excellent considering the age of the recording, this will remain my touchstone for this piece. Those Romans really BELIEVED! I also have the famous Karajan/Milano DVD from 1967. This is highly theatrical and manipulated by Henri-Georges Clouzot, the director, but it works. There is no audience. It is a typical HvK event, under his total control, even Clouzot's contribution.

I am also a fan of Muti's two recordings, preferring his earlier set made with the Philharmonia with the spectacular team of Renata Scotto, Agnes Baltsa, Veriano Luchetti and a very Rrrrrussian Evgeny Nesterenko whose profundo boomings really make for a scary experience along the lines of the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos.

And I couldn't live without the haunting duetting of Angela Gheorghiu and Daniela Barcellona for Abbado in his 2001 set on EMI.

Barenboim has some tough competition but he more than holds his own in a very dramatic yet spiritual (but not too) Chicago version. You can't just have one Verdi Requiem anyway. I highly recommend Barenboim to sit beside your personal favorites.

This recording of Verdi's Requiem is certainly a fine recording, but not the best available. The orchestra and chorus are in fine form and the soloists are also in fine form, with the exception of the soprano, Alessandra Marc. She very often sings out of tune with sloppy attention to ascending whole-steps and descending half-steps being horribly out of tune. Most noticable of her inadequacies is the high B at the end of the a capella section in the Libera Me. She is so out of tune that it is disturbing. It is also absolutely unforgivable. It ruins the entire recording for me. For me, this moment is the highlight of the work and to have it so miserably destroyed by a bad singer is unforgivable. What I also do not understand is why it was not either remastered or rerecorded. It is funny to read that some of the reviewers thought she was "spine tingling." Yes, she was, but not in a good way.