Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The Requiem is just the sort of big, dramatic work that Dimitri Mitropoulos excelled in, and sparks fly in this live 1956 performance from the Salzburg Festival. The mono sound is contricted, though--the last thing you'd want in a piece that even stereo can barely contain. But if you make the required mental adjustment, it's a ride worth taking. Leopold Simoneau is peerless in his solo turn, though his mellifluous tenor is heard in better sound on Charles Munch's RCA stereo recording made a few years later. But this well-filled disc (seconds shy of 80 minutes) is a valuable historical supplement. --Dan Davis

Tracks:

Hallelujah
Ave Verum Corpus K.618
Kyrie Eleison
Passion Chorale
The Shepherds' Farewell
Lift Thine Eyes To The Mountains
He Watching Over Israel
Dona Nobis Pacem
Hallelujah
Worthy Is The Lamb
Sanctus
Bogoroditse Devo
Wie Lieblich Sind Deine Wohnungen
The Heavens Are Telling
Rex Tremendae

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding.......2007-01-12

-gave this as a Christmas gift to my brother-in-law, a church musician. He has listened over & over & thinks it is really outstanding. Thank you!

The heavens are telling.......2005-10-21

This is a very great chorus, and one of Haydn's best as far as i am concerned. The pace, grandness and spirit of the piece all conjure in one's imagination the majesty of heaven, and God's throne. I cannot help but be moved to praise the God of the heavens and the earth.

kanmi ogundipe

Uncle Abe rattles the house with this thing.......2004-11-22

I came home from work one day when my uncle was visiting my wife and myself. He was recently retired from the ministry. He had heard a lot of choral music in his life. My aunt said he had the stereo ( power end of my stereo at the time was an Adcomm 555 amp. conservatively rated at 200 watts RMS per channel) up so loud it was rattling the whole house. I too have come to love this music. I mostly listen to rock and roll; but the way my uncle, and now I, play this thing, it is rock and roll from another era!!!

Sir Robert with ASO and Chorus at their Best!.......2003-11-16

After Mr Shaw spent many years in NYC and Cleveland with RCA Red Label,he came into Atlanta for a big change! Soon he switched to TELARC DIGITAL! I still Joyfully remember our Recording of the Christmas Nativity in Dec of 1975! Sir Robert, conducting with earphones encasing his head shouted: "Stop the taping, there is some Darn Sizzling noise in those Lights!" We may have not heard the word "Damn" lights, that he employed at times!

On both this newer release of TELARC and the older Recording of The Christmas Nativity, there are Bach's Chorale, Break Forth, Dona Nobis Pacem from the B-Minor Mass, Handel's Hallelujah! Plus the exquisite, Shepherds's Farewell to the Holy Family of Berlioz's The Infant Christ!

Those who may not be familiar with Berlioz from both recordings, will be richly rewarded by hearing them plus the Rex Tremendae from Berlioz''s Requiem and the other Kyrie from the Bach B-Minor! Absolutely, no other Christmas Music can ever approach these two splendid recordings, which are the basis of the ASO celebrating every Christmas with "Robert Shaw in the Spirit!"

Retired Chaplain Fred W Hood

Celestial melodies.......2001-05-27

No matter what mood you are in, the gorgeous chorals will draft you through the paths of holiness, and you will find yourself situated in the Elysium, land of eternal joy, yet you are far from dead. The past grief, weariness, and worries will fade and torture your soul no more. You are set free.

Tracks:

I. Requiem Et Kyrie
II. Dies Irae
III. Quid Sum Miser
IV. Rex Tremendae
V. Quaerens Me
VI. Lacrymosa
VII. Offertorium
VIII. Hostias

Tracks:

IX. Sanctus - John Aler
X. Agnus Dei - John Aler
I. Prelude And Chorus - John Cheek
II. Instrumental Scherzo And Dramatic Intermezzo
III. Vocal Scherzo
IV. Final Psalmody
Te Deum

Amazon.com essential recording

As one would expect, Robert Shaw's rendition of the Requiem is magnificently polished, with choral singing that is beyond compare. The drama is not quite as pronounced as with Davis and Munch, but the work's majestic architecture stands clearly revealed. For once, Telarc's thunderous, bass-heavy pickup adds something to the sonic picture. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding.......2005-12-28

Of all the modern recordings of Berlioz' Requiem, Robert Shaw's is the best on every count.

I wouldn't want to be without it.

However, I also wouldn't want to spend a day without the immortal Charles Munch/Boston Symphony version. Especially in the stunning new hybrid SACD remastering.

Simply, this is one of those times when it is just common sense to own two best recordings of the same work.

If you love this work and know these two recordings, you understand why.

Great but not the Ultimate.......2004-09-09

Whenever I hear works like this (or Mozart's or Verdi's or Brahm's Requiems) I am still in awe of the intellectual and emotional depths to which the composer plunged. This is a good, some might say great recording. I too am a Telarc fan and think their work is of the highest quality. Saying that, I will say that I found the work slightly "sterile" at least compared to Sir Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic recording that is nothing short of titantic.

Beecham seemed to put his whole heart and soul into the project whereas the current recording is one of intellectual rather than emotional interest. I judge Requiems an odd way - by listening to the Lacrymosa. Whether it is Mozart or Verdi or Berliotz, this particular element seems to hit emotional paydirt. Judging in this case I find it (again) entirely adequate but without the verve of the Beecham recording.

One other thing - many times the orchestra overwhelms the vocalist and this should NEVER be the case unless directly ordered by the composer. What's more, this should never happen in a modern recording studio.

A superb modern performance of the Berlioz Requiem........2003-12-12

Two hundred years ago today, Louis-Hector Berlioz was born. This is a day for me to comment on a few of my favorite performances of his works, some of them "favorites by acclamation" and others simply those in which I find special merit, enough so that they are frequently in my CD players.

Berlioz's Requiem is, with Giuseppe Verdi's "Manzoni" Requiem, one of the two great dramatic renderings of this text; works that have stood the test of time. If the Verdi work is the more frequently performed and operatic Requiem, the Berlioz is the more "forward-looking" and not at all lacking in its own drama and grandeur.

One needs to go "back into the vaults" to find a recorded performance of this essential Berlioz work that matches Robert Shaw's stunning version in its balance of sublime beauty and visceral excitement, not to mention its spacious sonics, all the way back to the much earlier performances by Charles Munch and Sir Thomas Beecham in fact. And then, of course, one pays a fairly heavy penalty in terms of sonics.

Despite the resources required, the work hardly lacks for "decent" recordings that are more modern than the Beecham and Munch ones, by such esteemed Berlioz specialists as Sir Colin Davis and Charles Dutoit, as well as by James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa and Sir Andre Previn. But "decent" is just not good enough; some of these fail to catch fire in one way or another, and none of them have the choral excellence of this Shaw recording under consideration. Only the Dutoit (in an otherwise curiously unengaging performance) can come close to matching Shaw in terms of recorded sound. (In fairness, I confess to not yet having heard John Eliot Gardiner's recording. It may, in its HIP [historically informed performance] way, be the equal of this Shaw recording.)

Shaw finds the appropriate dynamic contrasts in the work, from the gentlest supplications of the "Sanctus" and "Agnus Dei" to the most violent outbursts of the "Dies irae" and "Rex tremendae." The sound - and the perception of depth and spatial effects - is of demonstration quality, particularly in the "Tuba mirum" section of the "Dies irae," for which four brass bands are disposed at the extreme corners of the recording venue at Atlanta Symphony Hall.

The blazing originality of Berlioz shines through everywhere, not just in the instrumental (and choral) outbursts. The otherworldly effect in the "Hostias" of having flutes and trombones separated by many octaves, to represent the immensity of the distance from Heaven to Hell, is captured perfectly, right down to the trombones' pedal-tone growl (just one of many Berlioz innovations). John Aler, arguably our very best "American French tenor," is splendid in the "Sanctus," and the Shaw chorus, needless to say, is one that is seldom - if ever - topped.

John Aler can also be found on a Delos recording of another Berlioz work in a similar vein, the Te Deum (conducted by Dennis Keene), a recording I recommend highly. Regrettably, Robert Shaw never committed the Berlioz Te Deum to disc; it would have made a perfect filler. (This might be because of the special antiphonal "call and response" requirements between orchestra and organ that Berlioz takes pains to specify. Aler/Keene had the benefit of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine for their recording, a perfect venue for the work.)

But the two fillers in this boxed set - the Prologue to Arrigo Boito's Mefistofele and Verdi's Te Deum - which earlier filled a Telarc LP - are nonetheless excellent "fits" for the Berlioz Requiem.

I can remember, a quarter-century ago, when Norman Treigle "owned" the role of Mefistofele while he was at the New York City Opera (an ownership that was subsequently taken over by Samuel Ramey upon Treigle's unfortunate death by suicide). If John Cheek isn't quite the match for Treigle or Ramey, he doesn't miss by much. And the ASO performance and Telarc recording quality are pretty much assured of shaking your rafters just as well as the dramatic parts of the Berlioz work will.

The Verdi work is equally fine, but not nearly as cataclysmic as his "Manzoni" Requiem or Berlioz's own Te Deum.

The age of these performances (1984 for the Berlioz and 1979 for the fillers) doesn't show a bit. And neither does Berlioz the composer, 200 years old today.

Bon anniversaire, M. Berlioz!

Bob Zeidler

Utterly magnificent!.......2003-06-02

A while ago I gave my opinion of Dutoit's recording of the Berlioz Requiem on this site, and took the opportunity to sing the praise of this magnificent work - extensively so, and I won't repeat myself here. But every time I hear it, it again seems to grow in stature. In fact, I feel this work is so profound that it is more than worthy to stand alongside those other very greatest choral works in history, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Bach's Hohe Messe.
And this recording must be the best one made of it (there really ought to be many, many more to choose from, though!). That Shaw knows how to get the best out of a chorus we knew, but frankly I haven't been unreservedly happy with his handling of the orchestra in some other recordings (Mahler's Eight seems a relevant case in point). However, no such reservations here. Details are meticulously moulded, tempo's perfectly judged, and dynamics closely observed (though a little more 'swell' would have been welcome here and there). Rhythmic articulation is stunningly crisp both in chorus and orchestra (notice the choral singing in the Kyrie!). John Aler is the perfect soloist in the Sanctus, giving an unforced, deeply dignified reading of a piece that too often is allowed to veer towards the operatic - and this Requiem certainly isn't opera!
To top things of all these glorious sounds are caught in the best Telarc fashion, with completely natural perspectives and a thrillingly spacial feel to the four brass bands - not only in the Tuba Mirum, but in their quieter parts elsewhere too. Details remain clearly audible when textures thicken. All in all, a recording that allows full and unhampered immersion in this deeply moving and at times overwhelming masterpiece. I would still like to here John Elliot Gardiner's take on this work, as I did after hearing the Dutoit, but I doubt he can do very much better than this.

Fantastic Recording of a Fantastic Work!.......2003-02-08

The Berlioz Requiem is seldom performed, simply because of the sheer enormity of the production and the number of musicians involved. The large main orchestra is surrounded by four brass choirs, in addition to a choir of several hundred voices. There are no less than 16 tympanists, 18 trombonists, 12 horns and nine cymbalists.

Customer Reviews:

Remarkable.......2005-12-28

This has been hailed as a great performance for more than four decades.

It is also a remarkable recording, a true testament to the genius of the late, great Lewis Layton, RCA's Recording Engineer extraordinaire!

This is one of those wonderful occasions where new technology works to show us just how great prior technology really was.

As for the performance, Charles Munch had the common good sense to allow Berlioz' vision to speak for itself. This is a Requiem that doesn't ask for redemption. It screams for it! It demands atonement. It pleads for salvation.

There are other wonderful recordings of Berlioz' Requiem. The Robert Shaw comes to mind as one in which the conductor understands what Berlioz was about.

However, there is no other recording of this amazing, illusive, demanding and unique work that can lay claim to this: Charles Munch and The Boston Symphony Orchestra's performance is, in a word, exhilarating.

5 Stars is not enough.......2005-04-30

I agree with the previous reviewers about both sound and performance. This recording is miraculous, even in CD sound. I do not own a SACD player yet, but this disk tempts me to get one.
I was a bit puzzled about Amazon's price--I bought it in a major retail store as a twoer with a factory sticker to that effect, suggesting that BMG's price is $11.99 for both disks. Even at 11.99 per disk, though, it's still a bargain.

Still one of the best recordings .......2005-02-02

This recording of the Berlioz Requiem (Grande Messe des Morts)

is still after more than Fourty years, one of the best. The tenor

soloist Leopold Simoneu has yet to be bettered in the Sanctus

part, While the New England Conservitory Chorus may not be the

best one for this music they do at least make a good effort. The

Boston Symphony delivers a majestic performance of the music and

Charles Munch manages to keep the whole thing running like a

well oiled watch. Which is saying something in a large work such

as this. RCA released a recording with the BSO under Ozawa with

Vinson Cole and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus as a One disc

item, while it was a fair effort, it cannot begin to hold a

candle to this classic RCA RED SEAL recording. The only

recording I have heard that comes close to it is the one that

Sir Colin Davis recorded for Phillips as part of his Berlioz

Cycle. This recording is very much a classic and a clear first

choice.

Berlioz - Requiem / Cole · Boston SO · Tanglewood Festival Chorus · Ozawa

Average customer rating:

There's room for a cool, beautiful Requiem
Views from a participant of the recording
An Atheist sings the Apocalypse
Bloodless and bland
Great performance of a difficult work

Berlioz - Requiem / Cole · Boston SO · Tanglewood Festival Chorus · Ozawa
Hector Berlioz , Seiji Ozawa , Vinson Cole , Boston Symphony Orchestra , and Tanglewood Festival Chorus
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000003FOW
Release Date: 1994-11-07

Tracks:

Requiem, Op. 5: Requiem & Kyrie: Introitus
Requiem, Op. 5: Dies irae: Prosa; Tuba mirum
Requiem, Op. 5: Quid sum miser
Requiem, Op. 5: Rex tremendae
Requiem, Op. 5: Quaerens me
Requiem, Op. 5: Lacrymosa
Requiem, Op. 5: Offertorium
Requiem, Op. 5: Hostias
Requiem, Op. 5: Sanctus
Requiem, Op. 5: Agnus Dei

Customer Reviews:

There's room for a cool, beautiful Requiem.......2005-11-28

Berlioz was a committed propagandist for his own music, and writing about the Requiem he emphasized its cosmic and terrifying aspects. In that spirit there are several performances on disc (e.g., the first Colin Davis on Philips and the riveting James Levine from Berlin on DG) that are more fiery than Ozawa's live 1993 reading with the BSO. None, however, are as sheerly beautiful.

The CD is exceptionally well engineered--the capture of chorus and brass is very clear, second only to the Shaw from Atlanta (Telarc), but Ozawa is a much better conductor than Shaw. The Berlioz Requiem was something of a specialty of his, and he remains concentrated and committed throughout. The professional Tanglewood Festival Chorus ranks among the best ever. Finally, there is the magnificent playing of the Boston Sym.

In no way is this a bland performance, and many listeners will find it totally satisfying, if not the last word in apocalyptic terror.

Views from a participant of the recording.......2003-09-14

I was in the chorus for this recording, so my opinion on the chorus, which is great, is obviously not objective. I did not like Vincent Cole's singing. His portamento was excessive: approaching every note from a 4th below. From the chorus and through all those rehearsals, concert performances and the "live" recording session, it was painful to listen to. That's right, it was not really recorded from one live performance, but put together with more than 100 pieces based on four performances and a "patch up" recording session. Thanks to modern recording technology, we don't have to, or don't get to, buy a real live recording anymore.

An Atheist sings the Apocalypse.......2003-07-28

No recording will ever give the spatial rendering that is necessary for such a massive and monumental work. To really have the feeling of this Requiem you need to listen to it in a cathedral or a vast abbeychurch that enables the director to spread his voices and instruments in a huge space. But a recording can give you the richness of the composition. Hector Berlioz was definitely an atheist and he accepted to compose this Requiem to celebrate the victims of the 1830 revolution in France, though it will change completely later on and will celebrate the capture of Constantine in Algeria by the French in which General Charles-Marie de Damrémont, the Governor of Algeria at the time, died. Berlioz tried to recapture the massive inspiration of the musicians of the French Revolution and to go beyond catholicism to build a vision of the fundamental human drama that comes up from human history, the way Berlioz sees it. For him humanity is confronted to a deep dilemma that confronts the desire to build a new and better world to the reality of war and the human ugly fascination for suffering, both the desire/need to suffer and the desire/need to make other people suffer. This Requiem tries to tell us, through the music and nothing but the music, that we need a rebellious vision of human fate. Christ did not come on his own accord and on his father's decision, but because we asked him to come, because we needed him to come. « Remember, kind Jesus, that I caused your coming. » It could mean man caused this coming with his sins, but it definitely means for Berlioz that man asked Jesus to come to help him sort out the mess in which he is living. Some say it is a Requiem composed by Faust, but we may think it is a Requiem composed by Shakespeare. All musical means are used to imply that man can control his life and his future if man is able to dominate and manage his passions and his deep frustrations. One will be absoluetly flabbergasted when they discover the Dies Irae is a vision of the Apocalypse, that the Lacrymosa is an extreme rebellion against resignation. The use of the flute and the trombone in the Hostias is remarkably modern and pathetic. And these same flute and trombone will come back in the Agnus Dei with the same power to go beyond some abstract faith in equilibrium to express the deep suffering of man confronted to human fate. Hope is not in God but it is entirely in man's heart and soul.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

Bloodless and bland.......2003-06-10

My only reason to add a review of this disc is that I don't understand all the praise lavished on it by others. At least four recordings of this piece (Previn, Davis, Dutoit and Shaw, in ascending order of preference) are so much better than this one on so many counts as to render it totally uncompetitive as far as I'm concerned. Of course the playing and singing are excellent, what else would you expect, and as this is a concert registration I'm not too bothered by an occasional lapse in ensemble. But it's all so POLITE, so clean and so bland that it just kills the music. It may be pleasing to the ear, but it has very little to do with Berlioz! The Tuba Mirum is reduced to a mere interesting sound effect, while the quieter passages drag on monotonously, Ozawa failing to grasp opportunities to bring out Berlioz's magical scoring at every turn; - and that anybody would be able to deliver such a flaccid reading of that juggernaut of a Lacrymosa seemed inconceivable, and yet here it is: drained of energy, grey and unexciting. The recording registers the coughs from the audience rather clearer than much of the instrumental detail. It sounds congested and distant. All in all, eminently forgettable - this piece deserves much better!

Great performance of a difficult work.......2002-07-13

The Berlioz Requiem has assumed a semi-legendary quality in live performance, particularly because of the composer's 3-D sound achieved by placing four brass choirs in different places, and having the tenor sing the "Sanctus" from high up and back of the audience. These effects are extremely difficult to capture on a recording, and in addition to this very few recorded performances have the impassioned, almost manic quality that makes Berlioz' music so wonderful.

I loved the old Charles Munch recording for Munch's white-hot passion and the lustrous singing of tenor Leopold Simoneau, but the NE Conservatory Chorus was quite ragged and not worthy of the music. The Robert Shaw recording had a great orchestra and chorus, and a decent tenor, but somehow lacked intensity. The mid-1970s Bernstein recording, made in quadraphonic and with the superb tenor Stuart Burrows, suffered from Bernstein's usual quirky tempi and distended phrases.

Seiji Ozawa, a conductor I normally don't like very much, has the knack of conducting Berlioz extremely well. I still recall his PBS radio broadcast of the Symphonie Fantastique and Lelio (I think from the early 1980s) that left me spellbound: a shame he never recorded "Lelio" commercially. Here, however, we have a near-flawless performance of the Requiem, with all elegance and passion intact. The orchestra and chorus respond splendidly, and tenor Vinson Cole sings quite beautifully in the "Sanctus". (I'm not quite sure what "A music fan from Iowa City" is complaining about in regards to Cole's singing; like most tenors, he employs a little portamento, perfectly acceptable musically, and his phrasing is both beautiful and haunting.) If you are a Berlioz fan but have resisted buying a copy of the "Requiem" until now, I heartily recommend this version.

Berlioz: Requiem; Te Deum
Average customer rating:

A great performance, but I question the "improved" sound

Famous Davis recording remastered (Philips 50 series)

Berlioz: Requiem; Te Deum

Manufacturer: Polygram Int'l
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005IB56
Release Date: 2001-04-30

Tracks:

Requiem (Grande Messe Des Morts): I. Requiem Et Kyrie (Introitus) - Wandsworth School Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/Arthur Oldham
Requiem (Grande Messe Des Morts): II. Dies Irae (Prosa) - Wandsworth School Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/Arthur Oldham
Requiem (Grande Messe Des Morts): III. Quid Sum Miser - Wandsworth School Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/Arthur Oldham
Requiem (Grande Messe Des Morts): IV. Rex Tremendae - Wandsworth School Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/Arthur Oldham
Requiem (Grande Messe Des Morts): V. Quaerens Me - Wandsworth School Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/Arthur Oldham
Requiem (Grande Messe Des Morts): VI. Lacrymosa - Wandsworth School Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/Arthur Oldham
Requiem (Grande Messe Des Morts): VII. Offertorium - Wandsworth School Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/Arthur Oldham
Requiem (Grande Messe Des Morts): VIII. Hostias - Wandsworth School Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/Arthur Oldham

Tracks:

Requiem (Grande Messe Des Morts): IX. Sanctus - Ronald Dowd/Wandsworth School Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/Arthur Oldham
Requiem (Grande Messe Des Morts): X. Agnus Dei - Wandsworth School Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/Arthur Oldham
Te Deum: I. Te Deum - Nicolas Kyanaston/Wandsworth Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/John Alldis
Te Deum: II. Tibi Omnes - Nicolas Kyanaston/Wandsworth Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/John Alldis
Te Deum: III. Dignare - Nicolas Kyanaston/Wandsworth Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/John Alldis
Te Deum: IV. Christe, Rex Gloriae - Nicolas Kyanaston/Wandsworth Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/John Alldis
Te Deum: V. Te Ergo Quaesumus - Franco Tagliavini/Nicolas Kyanaston/Wandsworth Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor...
Te Deum: VI. Judex Crederis - Nicolas Kyanaston/Wandsworth Boys' Chor/Russell Burgess/London Sym Chor/John Alldis

Customer Reviews:

A great performance, but I question the "improved" sound.......2006-07-25

I'm sympathetic to the glowing review given below. I've lived with Colin Davis's classic Berlioz Requiem, so it was great to learn that there was a new remastering. Alas, the original tape source must not be in very good shape. The "Philips 50" series didn't do great things with Davis's Messiah, and the same holds ture here: climaxes still curnch, brass outbursts sting the ear, and the soundstage is boxy and restricted.

I'd go so far as to say that later Berlioz Requiems with great sound--from Levine, Shaw, and Ozawa--are so much more listenable that the Davis set is outdated. I don't know what kind of audio system anyone else has, but mine reveals major sonic improvements on many reissues, just not this one.

Famous Davis recording remastered (Philips 50 series).......2004-04-24

Since there is no cover picture or description, I will enlighten you that this release is part of the well engineered Philips 50 series, featuring some of the best recordings made by Philips (formerly Phonogram) in its history. Not all of the releases, this one included, were made available in the USA. But Amazon has been gracious to feature it as a special import.

The first CD version is still available (Amazon asin # B00000E34S, more reviews there).

And special it is. The recordings come from the Colin Davis Berlioz cycle form the the 1970s. And they are some of the best of that cycle at that.

The Requiem is brilliant. Without detracting from the obvious spectacle you get with such a large contingent of musicians, Davis never gets lost in the massiveness of the piece. Berlioz composition is both Grand (the full title is "Grande Messe des morts", or "Grand Mass for the Dead") and sublime, and Davis captures the sublime elements as few other conductors have ever done. The choruses (the London Symphony Chorus and the Wandsworth School Boys Choir) work together well, and the soloists are very fine.

The TE Deum is also given a memorable rendition by the LSO and Davis.

Sound is ever so important with a work as large as the Berlioz Requiem, and the Philips engineers, both the original recording engineers and the digital remastering engineers, deserve the bulk of the credit for this presentation. with such massive forces, engineers are challenged to give full efect to the sections that feature all of the forces and yet still capture the quite sections in a manner that makes them equally enjoyable in the home. With many recordings of the Requiem, you feel like you move from one position in the concert to another as the engineers try to "zoom in" to capture quieter moments and then "zoom out" get the full effect of the grand moments. With this recording, I feel like I never leave my seat, but I also never miss anything. I would give the Philips crew ten stars if allowed.

Amazon.com

Sir Colin Davis has long been considered the world's finest Berlioz conductor, and over the years, Philips has released all of the composer's major works with Davis at the helm. Now, they're all here, in a 24-CD box, and it is an astonishing achievement. This treasure trove consists of the definitive, available readings of Les Troyens, Béatrice et Bénédict, and Benvenuto Cellini; a wonderfully energetic, passionate Roméo et Juliette; a Te Deum which is huge yet clear and not over-the-top for its own sake; Les Nuits d'été with different singers (of varying ranges in different songs), as Berlioz wanted them performed; the young Dame Janet Baker superb in Herminie and La Mort de Cléopatre; a relaxed, sweet Enfance du Christ; a Requiem which could knock you over; a Damnation de Faust which is both lyrical and exciting; a performance of Lélio which almost makes sense of that strange work; a Symphonie Fantastiquewith atmosphere and thrills; along with 7 overtures, 5 songs, and more. In addition to the moderate price, the packaging is such that the 24 CDs takes up less space than just the earlier releases of Cellini and Troyens together. This is one-stop shopping at its best. --Robert Levine

Berlioz - Requiem · 5 pièces sacrées / Ainsley · Choeur et Orchestre Symphonique du Montréal · Dutoit

Average customer rating:

Lackluster conducting spoils this one
A masterpiece still in search of a truly great reading
Superb!!
Berlioz Regained

Berlioz - Requiem · 5 pièces sacrées / Ainsley · Choeur et Orchestre Symphonique du Montréal · Dutoit
Hector Berlioz , Charles Dutoit , and John Mark Ainsley
Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00002R2T3
Release Date: 2000-01-11

Tracks:

Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), Op.5: I Requiem et Kyrie (Introitus)
Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), Op.5: II Dies irae (Prosa)
Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), Op.5: III Quid Sum miser
Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), Op.5: IV Rex tremendae
Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), Op.5: V Quaerens me
Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), Op.5: VI Lacrymosa
Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), Op.5: Offertorium

Tracks:

Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), Op.5: VIII Hostias
Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), Op.5: IX Sanctus
Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), Op.5: X Agn289848us Dei
Requiem: Veni creator
Requiem: Tantum ergo
Requiem: Pater noster
Requiem: Adoremus
Requiem: Resurrexit

Amazon.com

This set has macabre appeal for collectors of worst recorded performances, since this failed Berlioz Requiem is a perfect example of the ghastly breed. Dutoit sleepwalks through one of music's most thrilling scores, leading what sounds like a first rehearsal run-through. Even the Dies irae and Tuba Mirum, which never fail to strike terror, are soporific. Most of the music is, of course, more contemplative, but Dutoit utterly fails to capture its mystery and intensity--it's just slow and choppy. Fine engineering can't save this, nor can the good performances of the choral works that fill out the discs. Get Bernstein on Sony or Munch on RCA to hear what this piece is all about. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

Lackluster conducting spoils this one.......2005-09-18

Decca stuck by Dutoit for a decade as their house French onductor, but his recodings, though spectacular in sound, never amounted to the real thing emotionally. He is a cool, detached leader even in Berlioz, where that kind of aloofness makes no musical or dramatic sense. Despite the excellent sonics and the skilled performers, this isn't a memorable version of the Requiem.

A masterpiece still in search of a truly great reading.......2002-12-10

OK, I know you can't say things like this, but I'm going to say it anyway: this is the greatest Requiem ever written. If I could own only one requiem I would gladly chuck out Mozart, Fauré, Britten and Brahms, and Verdi's ridiculously overestimated version on top, and hang on to this one. You may think of Berlioz as the composer of bizarre, unbalanced and bombastic works ("So you are the man who writes music for 500 performers", said Fürst Metternich on meeting the composer; "Oh no, your excellency," replied Berlioz, "sometimes I write for only 450"). This work cannot but change that view. Though very large forces are called for, these are used to diversify rather than amplify sound. The full contingent of brass and percussion is only used twice in the 90 minute span of the piece. This is intensely sombre and serious music. Berlioz had a strange affinity with death, and knows to communicate it (there is a harrowing scene in his memoirs where he describes in detail the exhumation of the body of his dear Harriet many years after her death - that same sense of the futility of life, and the sheer horror and loneliness of death, pervades much of this piece). The music is dictated by psychological insight, not melodic inspiration. The Kyrie for instance is hardly music at all, only a quiet, desperate muttering. Nor does the Dies Irae open with a cheaply effective 'coupe de theatre' à la Verdi, but with a quiet, sad melody on cello's and double basses, and a pianissimo unison line of soprano's and flute wandering forlornly through a vast empty space. From this a march gradually emerges, which then slowly builds up to the tremendous outburst of the Tuba Mirum.
The orchestration is an absolute work of genius and often way ahead of its time. In one place, the orchestral accompaniment is reduced to mere alternating chords of three flutes, high up, and eight trombones in their lowest register, creating a sense of musical vertigo, if such a thing exists; in another, the choir sings the same two notes throughout while a marvellous set of orchestral variations is developed simultaneously. The Lacrymosa is simply mind-boggling, undoubtedly one of the most overwhelming pieces of choral music ever written. The Agnus Dei picks up some threads heard earlier in the work and then ends with a series of serenely comforting 'Amen's', strings playing luminous slow arppeggio's while six timpani emulate something like a tired, irregular heartbeat.

Though some decent recordings of this work are available, it has not been as lucky on disc as it deserves, and none of the existing recordings that I'm familiar with does it full justice. Previn and Davis are serviceable and at times impressive; Ozawa is bland and forgettable, nor did the Levine reading stick in my memory long; I'm still curious about the much lauded Shaw, though my experiences with his Mahler 8 also engender some doubts; this Montréal recording, finally, is easily the most beautiful of those I know. Dutoit takes a relaxed and moderate view of the work, very much concerned with bringing out its many beauties. In doing so he renders it less confronting than it should be, but it remains a very moving experience indeed. The two Big Moments are powerful, though they don't convey the feeling of so many drums rolling at full force as the score shows there are (Previn succeeds best in this passage). The singing and playing are beyond criticism throughout, and the recorded sound, if at times slightly blurry and a bit underpowered, is pleasantly mellow and generally excellent. Still, dear John Eliot Gardiner, could you be persuaded to please, please, round up all period instrument players in Europe and expand your Monteverdi choir a bit for the occasion to give us the definitive account of this sublime work?

Superb!!.......2002-07-26

Before I rave about this well-played and well-recorded Requiem, I can see why many people would not cling to this recording. This is because Charles Dutoit takes an approach to this piece like no conductor before him. Whether you agree with the interpretations or not, new ways of performing a piece should always be applauded. Dutoit lets this piece shine with the highlight not being the actual forces that make up this huge work, but by the quality of the playing. Each meoldic line and harmonic note is brought out to give the listener something new to listen for. When I first heard it, I noticed many colors and effects that I never noticed before, especially in the Sanctus (which is probably the best track in this recording). The Montreal Symphony has excellent intonation in relation to the chorus. The balance between the singers and orchestra is terrific, and probably the best out of any Berlioz Requiem recording. Listen for yourself and enjoy what you hear, because I bet you'll be surprised by what you have never noticed before.

Berlioz Regained.......2000-07-03

Allow me to dissent from Amazon's reviewer. When, many years ago, I was in college, the Requiem was a "high-fidelity" item. That is, the more sound you could produce without actually blowing your speakers, the better recording. Dutoit's performance does not go in for gratuitous noise and reminds me that this is the same Berlioz who wrote L'Enfance du Christ.

The power is still there: the Lacrymosa and the Benedictus still roll to thundrous climaxes. But most of the Requiem is lyrical and, although Berlioz is said not to have been a believer, approaches being liturgical. The work itself has some dull spots (so does Les Troyens) but not many.

Throughout this performance everything is clear--my Latin is not good enough to comment on the diction, but the music is articulated with loving care. Counterpoint, harmony, and inner voicing are all audible and balanced.

The five sacred pieces, rarely heard, are a worthwile bonus. The last, the Resurrexit from an earlier mass, is particularly interesting because Berlioz used part of it in the Requiem, improving it greatly. Some of the rest of it sounds like failed Rossini, and Berlioz was clearly correct in deciding not to go farther in that direction.

Customer Reviews:

A tempting treasury, but only a few performances are great.......2007-02-03

Ten discs of Berlioz is a sumptuous offering, and temptingly cheap at Amazon Marketplace. DG has used this occasion to repackage some outstanding performances. At the top of the list goes James Levine's electrifying Requiem from Berlin, with playing and singing to match the conductor's inspiration. Also exciting--perhaps surprisingly so--is Abbado's Te Deum, which has rawer edges and sharper focus than Colin Davis's on Philips, long the standard version.

Dropping down a notch in quality, we have an elegantly played Romeo et Juliette by the Boston Symphony, superbly recorded, that has few rivals for refined virtuosity. But after a while Seiji Ozawa's approach seems to lack depth and meaning; he's skating over the surface of the musical drama, however brilliantly. Sharp and brilliant also describes Myung-Whun Chung's contribution, a Symponie fantastique, two overtures, and the Royal Hunt and Storm from Les Troyens, all with his well-trained Bastille Opera orchestra. Chung is to the manner born in Berlioz, but so are greater conductors in these works, including Munch and Markevitch.

At about the same quality level I'd place the Mort de Cleopatre, a dullish early vocal scene sung with plushness by Jessye Norman, and Kiri Te Kanawa's Les Nuits d'Ete, which is ravishing in terms of sheer vocalism but otherwise vacant. Daniel Barenboim's slack conducting does the piece no favors, either, which holds true on a much larger scale for his Damnation of Faust. This is a typical Barenboim product, full of lush sounds, excellent singing, big-scale orchestral work, but leading to a meager artistic payoff. Barenboim's Faust isn't remotely competitive with Markevitch, Chung, Solti, Pretre, and others in this work. It's great to hear Domingo in the title role, but the conducting is so routine that I'm not sure the overall experience is worth it.

We get odds and ends of varying quality: the rarely recorded Tristia done superbly by Boulez, an uneven batch of songs that previously appeared in their own double-CD set (a chore to listen to in its entirety, despite the occasional gem), and a pedestrain Harold in Italy conducted by Lorin Maazel in Berlin, a performance that DG surely could have bettered by looking deeper into their vaults.

In all, I can't see investing in such an uneven collection except at super-budget price. If you do a little searching, all the best things here can be gotten separately, and the lesser recordings pale by comparison with classic Berlioz from Colin Davis, Charles Munch, and Igor Markevitch.

Berlioz with immaginative variety.......2003-10-30

This box makes a nice alternative to the Philips boxes under Colin Davis. Not to take anything away from Davis. His Berlioz cycle certainly ranks up there with the elite for recording achievements. But many will not want to invest in all 3 boxes, so Universal has brought us a great compilation of some of Berlioz' best works from a variety of performers with different styles.
The jewel has to be Ozawa's unsurpassed Romeo and Juliet. This 1976 studio recording had its birth at the Tanglewood Festival and features excellent soloists (Julia Hamari, Jose Van Dam, and Jean Dupouy), a very competent choir, and of course the reliable Boston SO. The recording is of outstanding quality. It seems cleaned up a little from what I remember of the CDs from the mid 80s; much more spacious, less muddy sounding. I especially like the chorus in the hushed night scene.
Barenboim's Damnaton is perdictably Furtwangler-like in tempo, and again features top notch singers in Fischer Dieskau, Jules Bastin, & Placido Domingo; Yvonne Minto is probably not in the same class with the others, but she's more than acceptable.
Levine directs a well recorded and balanced classical-sounding Requiem, and Abbado is more than competent in the Te Deum.
Chung's Fantastique is fun and enjoyable, if not first-class.
The rest of the works are very commendable, if not top-of-the-class.
In short, you can't go wrong for the price, and if you love Berlioz' Romeo, you've got to get this box just for the Ozawa gem.

Average customer rating:

Second Choice
Don't waste your money
DYNAMITE

Berlioz: Requiem

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Berlioz: Requiem; Boito: Prologue to Mefistofele
Verdi: Requiem & Operatic Choruses
Berlioz: Les Troyens
Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony
Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs

ASIN: B0002M5T6G
Release Date: 2004-08-24

Tracks:

Introitus: Requiem And Kyrie
Dies Irae
Quid Sum Miser
Rex Tremendae
Quaerens Me
Lacrymosa
Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe
Hostias
Sanctus
Agnus Dei

Amazon.com

Telarc's classic Robert Shaw Atlanta recording of the Berlioz Requiem is still available after all these years. Now, Shaw's old orchestra and the chorus he created and trained have remade this massive work with Atlanta's new music director, Robert Spano. Spano's is a 21st-century take on Berlioz's masterpiece, a streamlined, machine-tooled interpretation that's among the fastest on disc. He makes his tempos work, although some sections, such as the start of the Lacrymosa, seem slightly rushed. Shaw's tenor soloist in the Sanctus was sweet-voiced John Aler, whose timbre fit the French style better than the more muscular lyric tenor of Frank Lopardo. Shaw's chorus was outstanding, as is Spano's, although the latter is more youthful-sounding and more closely recorded. The Shaw Berlioz Requiem was an audiophile's delight in the 1980s and Spano's may become one in the 2000s, since the work, with its huge brass and percussion forces and spatially separated instruments, is a perfect vehicle for multichannel sound. In stereo, there's plenty of impact, enormous dynamic range, and some loss of orchestral detail. Sonics alone should make this a hit. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews:

Second Choice.......2006-02-23

I originally ordered a CD of the Berlioz Requiem from HMV. After 6 months, I gave up waiting for it. Am I glad, because the alternative that you supplied (and it arrived within 14 days) is a terrific production. Both the orchestra and choir must be making Berlioz smile, and gladdening the heart of Our Lord.

Don't waste your money.......2005-10-07

This recording is flat and overall just lame. From an orchestral performance standpoint... it stinks. If you are looking for a good rendering of the antiphonal brass choirs, get the ozawa/boston symphony recording. It is truely antiphonal brass choirs. You can her the differance..

DYNAMITE.......2004-11-18

I researched long and hard before buying this recording. It was not listed in any of the CD buying guides I looked through and it had not been reviewed by anyone on Amazon yet. So I downloaded tracks from various recordings and compared them. I bought this one because it is the most well-rounded performance and also has the best sound quality.

The Atlanta Symphony is brassy and full of depth, providing a solid footing with well-tuned timpanis that rumble without individual drumbeats sticking out. The brass section is focused and packs an incredible punch, especially in the Dies Irae. The strings play in unison very well and I have yet to hear any stray notes.

The Atlanta Symphony Chorus is equally impressive, possessing an extremely wide range of dynamic colors that allow them to cut through the orchestra, even on the lowest notes. Their singing is precise, clear, and impassioned. Diction is excellent, but not overpowering.

Frank Lopardo's tenor might not suit everyone, but he sounds far away and "heavenly" enough to make the Sanctus believable and sincere. His singing is less passionate than it is other-worldly. Purely a matter of taste...

Spano keeps both the orchestra and the chorus in perfect line with one another, stretching from glass-shattering fortes to the most ethereal of pianissimos. Spano connects the entire work with a deep fluidity while also confining the Requiem to one CD, a welcome break from other recordings which push the 90 minute line.

I usually don't like Telarc's blaring bass and brass, but for once the engineers nailed it. The sound quality is digitally recorded and first rate; not a trace of static, hiss, crackles, or background noise. High notes do not splat, low notes are not overpowering, and the intensity of the music actually pushed my speakers to their limits (buy some big speakers to fully experience this recording... it will be money well spent). The SACD version when played on a surround sound system is nothing short of INCREDIBLE.

There are valid reasons to prefer other recordings (Sir Colin Davis' or Robert Shaw's are both excellent recordings), but since Berlioz's Requiem was meant to be LOUD, this is the only performance I have listened to so far that one can crank the volume up on and not lose sound quality. Add to that the bonus of the performance being excellent and you have a great modern recording of an epic work.

Average customer rating:

Requiem Maravilloso
Excellent orchestra, average choir
As powerful as the revolution it is in religious music
Excellent Reading
Berlioz Requiem sets a luminous tone

Berlioz: Requiem

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B0000029SI
Release Date: 1997-03-04

Tracks:

Requiem, Op. 5: Grande Messe des Morts: Requiem Et Kyrie: Introitus. Andante un poco lento
Requiem, Op. 5: Grande Messe des Morts: Dies Irae: Moderato - Andante maestoso. (Tuba mirum)
Requiem, Op. 5: Grande Messe des Morts: Quid Sum Miser: Andante un poco lento
Requiem, Op. 5: Grande Messe des Morts: Rex tremendae : Andante maestoso
Requiem, Op. 5: Grande Messe des Morts: Quaerens Me: Andante sostenuto
Requiem, Op. 5: Grande Messe des Morts: Lacrymosa: Andante non troppo lento
Requiem, Op. 5: Grande Messe des Morts: Offertorium: Moderato
Requiem, Op. 5: Grande Messe des Morts: Hostias: Andante non troppo lento
Requiem, Op. 5: Grande Messe des Morts: Sanctus: Andante un poco sostenuto e maestoso
Requiem, Op. 5: Grande Messe des Morts: Agnus Dei: Andante un poco lento

Customer Reviews:

Requiem Maravilloso.......2004-12-05

Acabo de sorprenderme al escuchar una maravilla, disfrute de un momento sublime de luminosidad y el profundo dolor de una obra coral sorprendente.
Eugene Ormandy un gran director hungaro desplazado en popularidad por Bernstein (del mismo sello) y por la fama icompensable de Karajan (EMI y DG), fue el director de la Orquesta de Filadelfia por mas de 40 años y logro el sonido Filadelfia, conocido y reconocido por su calidad y perfeccion. Todo esto entre los años cuarenta y ochenta, es decir muy alejado de los nuevos amantes de la musica clasica.
Ormandy tiene versiones insuperables del Requiem de Verdi, el Mesias de Handel, Misa Solemnis y 9a de Beethoven y una multitud de otras obras que pueden demostrarles su alta calidad y fuerza musical.
En este caso sumado al sonido perfecto de la orquesta se une la participacion del Temple University Choir (no es el mas popular de los coros del mundo pero cumple a cabalidad su trabajo) y la brillante actuacion solista de Cesare Valletti.
Es una obra sumamente esplendorosa, sutil, sentimental y llena de recogimiento, Berlioz suma a la gran orquesta su forma predilecta, voces celestiales en el llanto y dolor de la perdida.
Es una obra esplendorosa que se puede disfrutar en un CD impecable a un precio sin igual.

Excellent orchestra, average choir.......2003-07-29

While the orchestra is wonderful on this recording, the choir leaves much to be desired, particularly the sopranos. The men are quite good, but the women are often shrill, and sometimes out of tune - unforgivable! THe lyrical lines of Berlioz's movements are often broken and do not flow. There is also some disrepancy between choir and orchestra on tempo. I'm searching for a different recording...this one does not do this piece justice.

As powerful as the revolution it is in religious music.......2003-07-28

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

Excellent Reading.......2003-05-29

Eugene Ormandy's reading of the Berlioz Requiem is almost essential. The seminal period of the work is, of course, the massive and magnificent 'Tuba Mirum,' at which the multiple brass bands at the four corners of the orchestra enter. This crucial element of the score is pulled off very nicely by the Philadelphia Symphony and the accompanying chorus. The brass sounds very clear, and the massive numbers of crashing percussion do not obscure the orchestra and chorus. In short, the recording is very clear in what has to be one of the densest scores in the history of choral music. The other movements are played equally as well, with the 'Rex Tremendae' being the best reading I've ever heard, and the tenor in the 'Sanctus' is full of emotion and dramatic intensity-a key element. As a fan of Verdi's intense, overwhelming Requiem, the Berlioz was a perfect compliment to that, especially in this clear, precise recording by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Symphony.

Berlioz Requiem sets a luminous tone.......2000-04-24

This Requiem set's the tone for Good Friday in a luminous and often moving performance. The brilliant Philadelphia Orchestra and the added four brass ensembles further exhalt this highly theatrical performance. Ormandy's coolness in the quiet sections and thundering in the Lacrymosa and Tuba Mirum grip the mood and chill the spine. Thus Ormandy displayed the genius of Berlioz as a master in painting in brass and subdued percussion. The Temple University Concert Choir sung with conviction, clarity and sensitivity. The tenor, Cesare Vallenti, was spectacular!

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

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True to Myself

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Vivaldi: 12 Concerti, Op.9 "La Cetra"

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Trane Whistle

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Top Ten Latino, Vol. 4: 1965-1970

In the Moment

Everytime We Say Goodbye