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Best Mozart Requiem Recording?

post #1 of 29
12/16/02 at 8:01am
Thread Starter 
Hi all,

I sadly have lost my Mozart's Requiem cd. I've looked everywhere and it is no where to be found.

I guess it isn't a huge loss, it wasn't a terribly good recording. Despite this, it made me fall madly in love with it. Anyway, I must buy a new one.

So what is the best recorded/performed recording of Mozart's Requiem that is available on CD?

I really hope that someone has an opinion on this because there are more recordings of the Requiem than I could possibly audition on my own.
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post #2 of 29
12/16/02 at 8:04am
haaaaaaa the requiem.

The last time I heard it, it was at the dental clinic. I went there for an extraction and the dentist put it playing during the operation.

If you want, I can ask him, I'll see him back on friday
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post #3 of 29
12/16/02 at 9:21am
I own two different versions :

Mozart - Requiem (Telarc)
Mozart - Requiem (Opus111)

Both are worth owning, but if you could only get one, the Telarc one is one of the best ever.
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post #4 of 29
12/16/02 at 10:26am
OK lets see here I have heard 5-6 highly rated versions and own three (have not heard the Telarc KR mentions) my top recommendation is:

Herreweghe/Harmonia Mundi - unfortunately it is a newer full price version but the reading is very dramatic with excellent sound.....this is "period" performance

You will notice that there are many "period" performances for Mozart requiem so you have your choice here between modern instruments and period ones.

Others worth considering:
Weil/Sony
Abbado/DG....1999 live recording
Hickox/Virgin......mid price but hard to find
Gardiner/Phillips
Karajan/DG.....1987 digital
Schreier/Phillips

What version did you own previously?
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post #5 of 29
12/16/02 at 7:16pm
Thread Starter 
Unfortunately I'm not quite sure which edition it was. It was from my infancy as a music lover and was just one of those recordings that I saw on a sale rack and picked up on a whim. I didn't expect to fall in love with it, but I did.

Anyway, I've been poking around, reading reviews and the such and I think that I've narrowed it down to two albums:

1) Herreweghe/Harmonia Mundi was a great recommendation, it seems to have recieved a lot of very flattering reviews.
2) But the Telarc is by Robert Shaw who conducted my favorite recording of Verdi's Requiem.

Has anyone heard both of them?

PS: DA, I see that the Karajan is on-sale at Amazon. Was it a period or modern performance? I might want to get it along with one of the other two.
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post #6 of 29
12/16/02 at 7:53pm
Quote:
Originally posted by blip
PS: DA, I see that the Karajan is on-sale at Amazon. Was it a period or modern performance? I might want to get it along with one of the other two.
Karajan's 1987 digital Requiem was with Vienna Philharmonic (VPO) and uses modern instruments. There is an earlier analog Karajan version often sold at budget price level, but the digital is the much preferred performance.

DG was on a roll making excellent recordings for Karajan & VPO for his last few recordings.......during the same time Karajan's legendary Bruckner 8th was also recorded with VPO.
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post #7 of 29
12/16/02 at 8:28pm
The Shaw/ASO recording on Telarc is terrible. It's an OK if boring performance, but the recorded sound is extremely muffled.

The new Pearlman/Boston Baroque on Telarc is very good, but isn't based on the usual Sussmayer completion, if that's important for you.

There are many good recordings. You have to decide which style you like, and then it will be easier to narrow it down.

--Andre
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post #8 of 29
12/16/02 at 8:43pm
Is there an SACD version that can be recommended?
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post #9 of 29
12/16/02 at 9:14pm
I am a bit confused here... I thought it's generally acknowledged that Karajan's digital recordings (often released under "Karajan gold") have pretty bad sound quality. I have several from that cycle and they don't sound all that good - blame it on terrible post-processing and first-generation digital equipment.

I have (older?) Karajan's recording of Requiem so I'm going to give it a whirl. I remember he was criticized for making some classical period compositions to sound as if they were romanticism... but then, some people may prefer it like that (like me, depending on mood). This definitely applies to his Beethoven 5th.
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post #10 of 29
12/16/02 at 9:48pm
Quote:
Originally posted by aos
I am a bit confused here... I thought it's generally acknowledged that Karajan's digital recordings (often released under "Karajan gold") have pretty bad sound quality. I have several from that cycle and they don't sound all that good - blame it on terrible post-processing and first-generation digital equipment.

I have (older?) Karajan's recording of Requiem so I'm going to give it a whirl. I remember he was criticized for making some classical period compositions to sound as if they were romanticism... but then, some people may prefer it like that (like me, depending on mood). This definitely applies to his Beethoven 5th.
The Karajan/DG digital recordings from the early 1980's did not have great sound quality, as evidenced by his digital Beethoven & Tchaikovsky symphony sets. The late 1970's analog versions of both have superior sound quality as well as slightly better performances in general.

But by the late 1980's DG and other companies were producing much better results, for example I mentioned the Karajan/DG Bruckner 8th with the VPO, excellent sound quality made at the same time as digital Requiem.
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post #11 of 29
12/17/02 at 12:38am
Mikeg,

Channel Classics has a HIP (Historically-Informed Performance) style Mozart's Requiem on hybrid multi-channel SACD that's been critically well-received. I haven't heard it.

--Andre
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post #12 of 29
12/17/02 at 12:40am
Quote:
The new Pearlman/Boston Baroque on Telarc is very good, but isn't based on the usual Sussmayer completion, if that's important for you.
This is the one I have
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post #13 of 29
12/17/02 at 4:21am
>The Karajan/DG digital recordings from the early 1980's did not >have great sound quality, as evidenced by his digital Beethoven >& Tchaikovsky symphony sets. The late 1970's analog versions >of both have superior sound quality as well as slightly better >performances in general.

I am in complete agreement. I prefer by far his 1977 Tchaikovsky than his 1984 version for example. For some reason I thought that he died in mid 80's and didn't record anything afterwards. I'll have to check out Requiem and Bruckner's 8th, although I prefer 9th by a large margin.
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post #14 of 29
12/31/03 at 1:35pm
Sorry to dredge up a year old thread, but i figure it's better than starting a new one. It's been a year, any newer recording or remasters of old recording that fit this bill? I have a Mozart CD (cheap on from supermarket I found in with other CDs). I want to pick up a decent copy of Mozarts Requiem.

Scott
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post #15 of 29
1/23/04 at 1:22pm
On the recommendation of another Head-Fi-er I picked up this:

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...&album_id=1238

It's excellent AND budget priced. I also had an eyeball on the SACD version of Karjan.

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/...album_id=61403
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