Giuseppe VERDI
I vespri siciliani: Overture
Messa da
Requiem
Amy Shuard Anna Reynolds Richard
Lewis David Ward
Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra
Franz SCHUBERT
Mass in E flat,
D950
Anne Pashley Sybil Michelow
David Hughes Duncan Robertson William McCue
Scottish Festival Chorus - New Philharmonia Orchestra
Carlo Maria Giulini
Recorded - Royal Albert Hall, London, 7th August 1963 - Overture 5th August
1963 - Requiem Usher Hall, Edinburgh 31st August 1968 - Mass
BBC Legends - BBCL 4029-2
- STEREO (ADD) Total time 152.37 - two
discs
Crotchet
Amazon
UK
Amazon
USA
This recording of the Verdi Requiem was made in London a few months after
the famous EMI recording produced by Walter Legge. There are some interesting
comparisons to be made between the two, and not all are in favour of the
studio performance.
Orchestrally, there is not much to choose between the two recordings although
there are certain differences between them. The live environment gives an
extra dimension over the studio performance, although the studio recording
has plenty of vigour. The new version has that little bit extra allowing
for the fact that there are also a few slips.
The acoustic (Royal Albert Hall) allows the loud choral passages room to
expand, whereas the EMI disc, good as it is, sounds somewhat cramped and
overbearing. Am I the only one to hear slight distortion here? The BBC recording
is much better in this respect, although the EMI recording is superficially
the more impressive, being, as it is, richer. One thing the EMI recording
does not have however is the background coughs and splutters. Thank God the
Proms are in the summer. What might recordings like this be if they were
made in the winter?
The soloists are as good, given that they are all local lads and lasses,
compared with the international team conjured up by Walter Legge. Their somewhat
superior blending may be because of the fact that they were not international,
and maybe the music came first. There are however, one or two entries that
would have benefited from a retake.
The Schubert, I have compared with the Sawallisch recording and the BBC comes
out well against this. Tempi are very similar, and the main difference is
in the attack, being much more secure with Giuini. Here the years of experience
with opera and choral works shows. The Scottish choir is excellent, and when
I first listened to these discs, without studying the written material, I
was surprised to find that the chorus was not the same as in the Verdi. I
will say no more than that.
These recordings are well up to the better BBC Prom and Edinburgh Festival
recordings, done before they started to spoil many broadcasts with excessive
and disfiguring compression. Any sonic limitations, such as they may be,
can confidently be ignored, if you are trying to decide whether or not to
buy this disc: not a replacement for the EMI recording (Requiem), but a very
good alternative.
Reviewer
John Phillips
