Berlioz - Grande Messe des morts (Requiem)
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Label: Chandos
Cat No: CHSA5219
Format: Hybrid SACD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 5th October 2018
Contents
Artists
Bror Magnus Todenes (tenor)Choir of Collegium Musicum
Bergen Philharmonic Choir
Edvard Grieg Kor
Royal Northern College of Music Choir
Eikanger-Bjorsvik Musikklag
Musicians from the Bergen Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor
Edward GardnerWorks
Grande Messe des Morts (Requiem), op.5Artists
Bror Magnus Todenes (tenor)Choir of Collegium Musicum
Bergen Philharmonic Choir
Edvard Grieg Kor
Royal Northern College of Music Choir
Eikanger-Bjorsvik Musikklag
Musicians from the Bergen Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor
Edward GardnerAbout
All the grandiose, striking beauty of the Requiem’s large-scale ceremonial is encapsulated by first-class vocal and orchestral forces, fully utilising the spatial possibilities of Grieghallen in Bergen. The matching of space and sonority was one of Berlioz’s lasting obsessions, one experience in St Paul’s Cathedral in London throwing Berlioz into a delirium of emotion from which he took days to recover. His Grande Messe des morts, notorious for its requirement of four brass bands in addition to a large orchestra and chorus, taken here from live concerts, has often been seen as one of the most emotionally powerful works of its kind.
Setting a solemn and austere, even ascetic text, the music is not that of an orthodox believer but of a visionary, inspired by the dramatic implications of death and judgement.
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Requiem et Kyrie
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2Dies irae
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3Quid sum miser
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4Rex tremendae
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5Quaerens me
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6Lacrymosa
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7Offertoire
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8Hostias
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9Sanctus
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10Agnus Dei
Europadisc Review
Both these new recordings are mightily impressive, and both stem from live performances in concert halls (Benaroya Hall, Seattle, and Grieghallen, Bergen) rather than the cathedral acoustics of several recent rivals. As much a reflection on space (acoustic, spiritual, celestial) as it is a memorialisation of death, the Requiem can nevertheless benefit from the imaginative use of a concert hall acoustic. Unlike most other recordings, both these new arrivals fit comfortably on one disc, and there is certainly advantage in not lingering too long over some of Berlioz’s more sparsely scored passages, which can sound either etiolated or saccharine when dwelt on at greater length. Of the two, Morlot is the brisker, taking a mere 76 minutes, but Gardner, taking a more thoughtful 81, surely strikes a better balance. Acoustically, too, it is Gardner (in multi-channel surround sound) who has the advantage over Morlot (in vivid digital stereo). Where the Seattle performance, cut at a relatively high volume level, appears to take place within a fairly limited perspective (with even pianissimo passages sounding robustly healthy), the Bergen performance is far more varied, in terms of both dynamic range and placement of forces.
There is, for instance, a notable dynamic contrast between the introspective opening ‘Requiem et Kyrie’ and the following ‘Dies irae’ under Gardner, which makes the most of their contrasting musical characters. And in the ‘Sanctus’, where Keith Tarver’s admirable tenor is very much centre stage in Seattle, Bergen’s youthful Bror Magnus Tødenes is placed at a considerable distance, lending an appropriately otherworldly (or, rather, heavenly) quality to his music. Honours are fairly evenly divided between the expanded Seattle Symphony on the one hand, and the Bergen Philharmonic (reinforced with musicians from the Bergen Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the Eikanger-Bjørsvik Musikklag brass ensemble), but it is the Bergen forces that breathe greater character into Berlioz’s music, with some quite outstanding colours from the woodwind ‘choir’ and solos. Similarly, Gardner gets more variety of shading from the Bergen Philharmonic Choir, RNCM Chorus, Edvard Grieg Kor and Collegiûm Mûsicûm than does Morlot from the impressive Seattle Symphony Chorale and Seattle Pro Musica.
On both recordings, the eight sets of timpani make a mighty thunder in the ‘Tuba mirum’, but it is the context within which these outbursts occur that is make-or-break. With Morlot, it is merely the loudest in a series of sonic climaxes, whereas with Gardner this moment (and similar highpoints in the ‘Rex tremendae’ and ‘Lacrymosa’) really stands out, raising the hair on one’s neck. And it is Gardner’s handling of the quieter movements , with their often sparse textures and archaic polyphony, that marks his performance as something special. While taking care never to let the music flag, he finds a poetry and sensitivity to Berlioz’s often strange musical language that is deeply moving without ever cloying. It’s a reading steeped in feeling for the early Romantic soundworld that Berlioz helped to establish, and Gardner restrains the strings from excessive vibrato to maximise expressive effect. To sample some of the most exquisite sounds, try the opening of the ‘Hostias’ or ‘Agnus Dei’.
The Seattle recording comes with brief notes but no sung text, while Chandos (as you’d expect) provide an intelligent and detailed article by Berlioz expert Hugh Macdonald, as well as full sung texts and translations. Completists will probably want both versions, but of the two, the Chandos recording is the one to have, and moreover one of the most thoughtful and compelling accounts of the Grande Messe des morts in the catalogue. A huge achievement!
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