Verdi: Requiem Mass - Cherubini: Requiem in C minor / Scotto, Baltsa, Luchetti, Nesterenko; Muti

Giuseppe Verdi (Artist), Luigi Cherubini (Artist), Philharmonia Orchestra (Artist), Ambrosian Opera Chorus - John McCarthy (Artist), Riccardo Muti (Artist), Renata Scotto (Artist), Agnes Baltsa (Artist), Veriano Luchetti (Artist), Evgeny Nesterenko (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 10, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B000002SCQ
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #131,499 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #11 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Scotto, Renata
  • #54 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Featured Performers, A-Z > Q to T

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, December 15, 2000

By 

Darrin Rasberry - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Verdi: Requiem Mass - Cherubini: Requiem in C minor / Scotto, Baltsa, Luchetti, Nesterenko; Muti (Audio CD)

I own several versions of Verdi's Requiem, but this recording is my favorite. Breaking from convention, Muti chooses to variate style and tempo while not taking away the spirit of the music. In the opening "Aeternam" and "Kyrie", for example, the conductor experiments with a vocal arrangement quite unique; but his choice of a frightening tempo for "Dies Irae" is what best captures the sheer terror of the lyric presented. "Ingemisco" and the weeping "Libera Me" are the best recordings on this disk.

The often overlooked Cherubini Requiem, which appears on the second CD, is a crisp, melodic, haunting presentation. "Twin Peaks" fans may recognize a movement or two.

Unfortunately, this jewel is sure to be passed over in favor of the recordings which sport Domingo and Pavarotti. But the true opera connoisseur should give this marvelous version an honest listen; it will sincerely take your breath away.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost Verdi's finest opera, March 11, 2001

By 

sphaerenklang "stringph - at - gmail" (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Verdi: Requiem Mass - Cherubini: Requiem in C minor / Scotto, Baltsa, Luchetti, Nesterenko; Muti (Audio CD)

This is a full-blooded performance which puts an emphasis on the melodramatic and lyrical aspects of the work, in fine sound quality and with excellent choral and orchestral work. The Dies Irae is really startling, the volume and speed of it being almost more than one can handle at first hearing. This is achieved partly through cheating at the beginning of the work, since to hear the start of the "Requiem" *at all* you have to turn the volume up high - for some reason the conductor decided that he should show off just how quietly the basses could play. The more lyrical passages for chorus and soloists are admirable, Muti keeps the tempos flowing so that the operatic quality of the music does not swamp the devotional mood.

I have reservations about the soloists: the mezzo is the best, with a beautiful tone and clear diction; Renata Scotto has a huge voice but I could not get used to her wobble (it's more than just vibrato) - it sounds like a continual struggle to stay on pitch. The bass is vocally OK but actually under-acts the words, and the tenor, while not vocally challenged either, sometimes seems to be a caricature of Italian singers, scooping, sliding and in the "Ingemisco" going horribly flat coming off a high note.

So go for this recording for the choral and orchestral contributions (or if you're a Cherubini fanatic), but don't expect the finest vocal standard for the soloists.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A hot shot's Requiem, if that's your taste, June 1, 2006

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Verdi: Requiem Mass - Cherubini: Requiem in C minor / Scotto, Baltsa, Luchetti, Nesterenko; Muti (Audio CD)

On its first CD release The Gramophone's reviewer ranked Muti's first Verdi Requiem from the early 80's as among the top ten ever recorded. Put another way, there are nine better, but in the LP era some critics found this performance so compelling that it was ranked No. 1 on many lists. Where did this exaggerated praise come from?

First, the professional Philharmonia chorus sounds superb, singing with wonderful unity and musicality (though not with Verdian fervor). All of the soloists are exemplary except for the aging Scotto--she was the greatest artist among them but not the spinto-dramatic soprano required here, or the alternative lyric soprano one sometimes hears (e.g., Schwarzkopf).

More generlaly, this was a hot shot's Requiem, eschewing spirituality for raw power and impact. Muti's Dies Irae and Sanctus were exhiliratingly fast. Memories of the fiery Toscanini were recalled. Now the Dies Irae seems like a pardoy as it races past. To tell the truth, the one thing that riveted my attention, despsite the wobble in her voice, was Scotto's tragic, almost wild solo singing. Muti's second try in the Nineties delivered a tamer reading, but this one can stand as a tribute to his early promise as Toscanini's all-too-brief successor.