I would first refer the reader to the earlier review of the
disc on this website by Michael
Cookson, who gives a detailed account of the history of
Cherubini’s C minor Requiem and description of the work
itself. He rightly assigns it a Recording of the Month.
I can only concur in his assessment of its quality.
This very powerful and beautiful Requiem, which recalls Mozart’s
in some respects and which influenced Beethoven and others,
has not received the number of performances and recordings it
deserves. I had the privilege of singing in this work back in
the mid-1970s and have had a real fondness for it ever since.
The recording that I know best and have used as a reference
is Riccardo Muti’s with the Ambrosian Singers and the
Philharmonia Orchestra on EMI Classics. This has been reissued
most recently on a six-CD set (EMI Classics 50999 6 29462 2
3) with Cherubini’s masses and D minor Requiem. It is
also still available on a two-CD set with the Verdi Requiem,
as far as I am aware. Muti’s approach is rather larger
and more dramatic than that of Friedrich Bernius. Significantly
his tempi are slower in every movement, though for some of them
not by that much. As a generalization, I would say that Muti’s
looks forward to Verdi, while the Bernius perhaps has more in
common with Mozart. However, I don’t want to make too
much of the comparison. I have not heard the Muti in its most
recent incarnation and have it only on LP. Nonetheless, after
hearing this stunning new Carus recording, I fear the Muti may
be showing its age. The period orchestra plays extremely well
and produces all the power one could ask for. The tam-tam crash
at the beginning of the Dies irae is overwhelming, the
brass plenty powerful, and the vibrato-less strings not only
secure but also warm and refined. The chorus is also excellent
having both body and clarity. Indeed, I cannot imagine a better
account of the Requiem than this new one.
One drawback is the disc’s short timing. On the cover
only the Requiem is listed, but there is also this strange Tractus
sung by Gregorian chanters, separating the Gradual from
the Dies irae and somewhat diminishing the abruptness
of the tam-tam crash. Presumably this was included to make the
work seem more a part of a Catholic mass than a concert performance.
The notes to the CD, which overall are superb, make no mention
of the reason behind its inclusion here. If preferred one can
program it out so that the Dies irae starts immediately
after the Gradual. What else could have been included
besides the Requiem? Two other recordings, one by Matthew Best
and the Corydon Singers and Orchestra on Hyperion, the other
by Martin Pearlman and the Boston Baroque on Telarc, have the
composer’s Marche funèbre as a filler. This
adds only six-plus minutes to the overall timing, but the march
with its use of the tam-tam similar to that in the Requiem is
quite appropriate. In addition, Pearlman also includes Beethoven’s
Elegiac Song on his recording. I have heard neither Best
nor Pearlman, but I cannot imagine either being superior to
the Bernius. Despite its rather short timing this new disc is
highly desirable. In any case, quality counts for more than
quantity.
Leslie Wright
see also review by Michael
Cookson (November 2010 Recording of the Month)
Kammerchor Stuttgart 
83.227 [46:12] 
