Mozart: Requiem [2022 Recording]

by Jordi Savall, La Capella Nacional de Catalunya

Overview

Conductor and ensemble leader Jordi Savall recorded Mozart's Requiem in D minor, D. 626, in 1991 when historically oriented performances of Mozart were not so common. That recording has remained successful, and even in 1991, Savall had a better feel for Mozart than any number of other conductors in the historical performance field. However, this 2022 reading with Le Concert des Nations (26 instrumentalists) and the Capella Nacional de Catalunya (24 singers) is preferable. It is not cut from a fundamentally different cloth, but Savall adds immediacy, intensity, and speed. Audiences have responded well, putting the new album on classical best-seller charts in the spring of 2023. A chunk of the credit goes to the Alia Vox engineering staff working at the Chateau de Cardona in Catalonia. The recording has modest forces, but the miking is close up, and the sound is that of a much larger ensemble. It is really an exemplary essay in how to avoid the wan sound afflicting so many undersized ensembles that disappear into vast church spaces. As he has in other Classical-period recordings, Savall takes most movements at unusually fast speeds, pushing his youthful singers and his brass players to the edge but not beyond it, and the balance among the forces remains careful and clear. The big dark movements here -- the Dies irae and the Confutatis -- have an intensity matched in few other recordings of the Requiem. The soloists are not extraordinary, but this is not an operatic work, and it is probably best not to have them stand out. Entering his ninth decade, Savall continues to produce distinctive and often moving readings of Classical and Romantic repertory in addition to music in his core specialties. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	05/12/2023
Label:	Alia Vox
UPC:	8435408099530
Rank:	19038

Tracks

1. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Introitus: Requiem æternam (Adagio)
2. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Kyrie (Allegro - Adagio)
3. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Sequentia: 1. Dies iræ (Allegro assai)
4. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Sequentia: 2. Tuba mirum (Andante)
5. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Sequentia: 3. Rex tremendæ
6. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Sequentia: 4. Recordare
7. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Sequentia: 5. Confutatis (Andante)
8. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Sequentia: 6. Lacrimosa (Larghetto)
9. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Offertorium: 1. Domine Jesu Christe (Andante con moto) / Quam olim Abrahæ (Andante con moto)
10. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Offertorium: 2. Hostias (Andante) / Quam olim Abrahæ (Andante con moto)
11. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Sanctus (Adagio) - Osanna (Allegro)
12. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Benedictus: Benedictus (Andante) / Osanna (Allegro)
13. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Agnus Dei: Agnus Dei
14. Requiem en Ré mineur, KV 626~Communio: Lux æterna, (Adagio) / Cum sanctis tuis in æternum (Allegro - Adagio)

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Jordi Savall   Primary Artist,Conductor
La Capella Nacional de Catalunya   Primary Artist,Choir/Chorus
Manuel Walser   Baritone (Vocal)
Rachel Redmond   Soprano (Vocal)
Mingjie Lei   Tenor (Vocal)
Joseph Leopold Eybler   Completion
Franz Xaver Suessmayr   Completion
Marianne Beate Kielland   Mezzo-Soprano (Vocal)
Le Concert des Nations   Orchestra

Technical Credits

Eduardo Nestor Gomez-Scarantino   Design
Claudia Kalasz   Liner Note Translation
Paolino Nappi   Liner Note Translation
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tisehbein   Portraits
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart   Composer
Jordi Savall   Liner Notes
Manuel Mohino   Mixing,Editing,Engineer,Mastering
Jacqueline Minett   Text Translation,Liner Note Translation
Gilbert Bofill i Ball   Text Translation
Marc Vignal   Liner Notes
Juan Gabriel Lopez Guix   Text Translation,Liner Note Translation
Luca Chiantore   Text Translation
Agnes Prunes   Realization
Philippe Matsas   Photography
Toni Penarroya   Photography