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Site review by Polly Nomial December 6, 2005
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Performance: Sonics (S/MC): / |
It is nice to be able to welcome a true master-work that has been recorded with first rate performers and in glorious (surround) sound. The balance is very good, with all parts getting their due; the balances are very well judged with the vocal contributions riding on, arguably, the most beautiful cushion of detailed orchestral sound (from a playing perspective not audiophile) that is around to hear these days.
I should declare that I happened to be present at one of the concerts that were used to get this performance - in all it seems to be a very accurate representation of the event. However, the engineers might have not been completely honest with their representation of the Musikverein.
For some, the performance will be too much "church" and too little "opera". However, I find myself preferring it to the more overtly dramatic reading that Abbado gave recently in Berlin despite the more urgent tempos that Abbado adopts (overall about 5% quicker). Repeated listening bought to mind that the soloists (and silently, Harnoncourt) are the priests officiating in a funeral service with the chorus playing the role of the congregation.
In the opening Requiem & Kyrie, the strings seem to creep out of the ether. Voices steal in a subdued manned before bursting into more passionate declamations around Te Decet Hymnus. Following the return to the opening material, the voices sing in a very matter-of-fact style which reminds me of an orthodox service. This style is neither boring nor overly emotive to me.
The Dies Irae *is* slower than Abbado’s recent reading but in the quality of the playing does not rob the shock and fury of the outburst, if anything it is enhanced by the extra articulation possible. The extra brass are presented Left Rear & Right Rear in Tuba Mirum. Now, obviously I can only speak of the performance I attended but when I watched this, the extra brass instruments were only placed on one side of the hall. It is of course possible that different positionings were used on different dates but it does place the suspicion in my mind that the engineers are not being entirely truthful with the recording.
Following this on the second disc (stored beneath the first on an extended nodule), the Offertorio is very beautifully sung & played. Absolutely no histrionics in the singing and an utterly humble Hostias.
The more upbeat Sanctus is nicely articulated singing which makes up for slightly slower pace. In this number (as before) the chorus is absolutely immaculate. During the Agnus Dei, the reverential opening transported one to Verdi's realisation of Heaven only for the "priests" at the movements close to bring one back to the solemnity of the occasion.
After the Lux Aeterna's opening beauty the mood is quickly snatched by the pallor of dark steps. By the end of Libera Me I felt inclined to join the sentiment if not in voice of the final words “Deliver me, o Lord, from eternal death/On that dreadful day/Deliver me!”
To sum up, the performance is gently but powerfully gripping and packs a very powerful punch that creeps up on me. The recording is also very good which accurately captures the beautiful accoustic of the Musikverein with the possible proviso noted above.
(Purchased)
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Copyright © 2005 John Broggio and SA-CD.net
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Review by jlaurson October 10, 2007 (5 of 5 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics (S): |
by jfl | Saturday, January 14, 2006
Nikolaus Harnoncourt has been on a run lately – not unlike René Jacobs. Recording after recording stun because of their quality, inventiveness and musicality. Although Harnoncourt has proven mortal with a Messiah released just before Christmas (an oddly disengaged and rather dull live recording that attracts the label “rush job”), the live recording of the Verdi Requiem from the Musikverein in Vienna is a different matter. The recording has gotten some positive reviews, if not the universally glowing ones that his latest Mozart Requiem received, but then that is to be expected; Verdi being a more divisive composer when it comes to approaching him with any certain style. And ‘style’ is where Harnoncourt scores or doesn’t score – depending on your predilections.
The label ‘sacred opera’ has stuck with this work ever since Hans von Bülow penned his critique “Oper im Kirchengewande” (Opera in Church-cloth). George Bernard Shaw, who knew a good phrase when he saw one, didn’t hesitate to pick it up in his review after the London premier. Eduard Hanslick, interestingly, was more differentiated – but if he didn’t blame Verdi so much for what he heard, he took exception to an all-too operatic delivery of several lines in the work. Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs’ informative liner notes in the Harnoncourt recording try to establish that the critique of Verdi’s work as ‘operatic’ was mostly unfair… but then goes on to detail how even Verdi objected to it being interpreted as opera by his singers. (“…this mass should not be sung like an opera; phrases and dynamics as would be appropriate in the theater would not, not in the least, please me here!”) Whether the label was ill applied or not, it went on to be worn as a badge of honor over the years – and many operatic-as-can-be recordings testify to that effect. Gardiner’s recording on Philips (helped by perhaps the best chorus) was a welcome break from that routine.
Now comes Harnoncourt and goes some steps further. If his recording immediately moves to the top of my list, it does so for a general quality of the music making, but also because of those interpretive decisions that others might find the very detriment to this recording. His singers are veterans of the great opera houses, but they are not primarily Verdians and have voices that are on the lighter and expressive, rather than heavy, dramatic side. Eva Mei (soprano), Bernada Fink (mezzo), Michael Schade (tenor), and Ildebrando d’Arcangelo (bass) bring agility to the Requiem and sing extraordinarily unmannered. D’Arcangelo is not the deepest of basses to have sung this role, nor are he and his colleague Schade the most authoritative. Even singing with delicacy in mind as they do, more power would not necessarily hurt (if judiciously applied) – although if choosing between either extreme, I’d at once opt for the way this recording presents the male voices. The women are not lacking vocal reserves; it is to their credit that they don’t dispense it all at once.
The effect is one of occasional understatement, the extreme grandeur, that moving and over-powering sweep that the Verdi Requiem can have in the best of the ‘heavy’ performances is missing, especially towards the end of the work. Precision and detail are present in spades, though. If you have set expectations of the emotional effect of this work on you, you might experience (initial) disappointment. But if slurred, indiscriminate, and excessive portamento annoys the living hell out of you, this is the recording to have. Harnoncourt mercifully cut that habit down to the very minimum – and I am all for it. (Even just one dose of Andrea Bocelli’s – can I mention that name here? – cat-like howl in the opening of the Gergiev recording will forever cure you of any fondness you might have had for that technique.)
Harnoncourt also uses an edition that includes corrected dynamics and instrumentation. It probably enters the result – which I love for the mentioned reasons – but I cannot say that shy of following the score meticulously, this would be noticeable in any particular instance. The SACD sound (this disc is only available as a SACD hybrid) only helps the immense detail and clarity. There are no audience noises that I was able to discern.
RCA Red Seal 82876 61244 2
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Review by Oakland February 6, 2008 (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
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Performance: Sonics (S/MC): / |
Two weeks ago I attended a splendid performance of Verdi’s Requiem, replete with beautifully burnished brass in the galleries. (It’s amazing how much more I can enjoy a live performance when I take off my audiophile cap/blinders).
I “prepped” for the performance (as I try to do as much as possible) by doing some reading on the work and listening to performance(s) I have on hand. I pulled out the Red Seal (Sony) Harnoncourt/Vienna live performance SACD. Don’t get me wrong, I do see some redeeming virtues of this performance and sound, but without getting into all the details why, this SACD, after several listens, is just not satisfying to me. Nagging issues related to performance and sound preclude me from enjoying this SACD.
The choir and soloists I found to be good (though not exceptional), except for the tenor who sometimes sounds “severe” to me. The bass soloist is a tad weak, but acceptable. They all lack that last ounce of "weight" I have come to expect.
The sound quality is mostly 4 star, but certainly not outstanding (my bar for newly recorded SACD). Unfortunately things get audibly congested during some of the fortissimo, a serious drawback in that there are ample loud passages in the Requiem. Also, I think that there may have been an attempt to expunge the audience noises, which I rarely think is a good idea, and seems (to me) to muck up the sound. But that is just a guess on my part. The low end is quite good with the timpani and bass drums sounding authentic and deep.
But at the end of the day (performance) it all does not hang together; it simply does not capture the different moods/emotions that I find are so abundant in this wonderful work. I never found myself getting “sentimental”. In fact, I found the performance in key areas to be dispassionate (perhaps a bit to strong of a description) or indifferent and almost non-Italian.
And if ever a classical work pleads in earnest for multi-channel the Verdi Requiem is that work. And the multi-channel aspect of the Harnoncourt/Vienna SACD is done very well. For example, the horns during the call to judgment Tuba mirum are realistically distantly placed toward the sides/rear but don’t “blare” you out of your listening chair like the too close (and too loud) rear horn perspective of the Norrington Berlioz Requiem.
But that’s not enough to save the day, and I will almost certainly never play the Harnoncourt Verdi Requiem again, reaching for instead the plentiful two-channel versions I own even though Harnoncourt recording quality and sense of space surpasses these more highly regarded (to me) interpretations.
What I'm looking for is a top tier or at least excellent interpretation, that is well recorded and (here's the rub) that brings the performance *closer* (not all the way there, of course) to what I experienced in the live venue two weeks ago. For me, multi-channel is a requisite to meet that bar.
Robert C. Lang
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