MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


CD REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

 

Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901)
Messa de Requiem (1874) [80.44]
Julia Varady (soprano); Felicity Palmer (mezzo); Keith Olsen (tenor); Roberto Scandiuzzi (bass)
Orfeón Donostiarra Choir
Toulouse Capitole Orchestra/Michel Plasson
rec. Eglise Notre-Dame La Daurade, Toulouse, 2-5 July 1996. DDD.
EMI CLASSICS 56459 [67.31 + 13.13]
Experience Classicsonline


This is a recording that would seem to hold out much promise when one reads the details on paper: a reputable orchestra under their chief conductor, who has a flair for large-scale pieces, an often-recorded choir, and a quartet of notable solo vocalists. Alas, quickly it became apparent for me that this that would not fully live up to those expectations. It is a somewhat mixed affair, and that can be attributed to a couple of individual factors. Let me temper this subdued opening with the ever-present consideration of personal taste: what I specifically dislike others may find appealing. So keep reading, one and all.
 
Imagine, if you will, that you are to conduct Verdi’s Requiem Mass. The central question that defines any performance is this: is it to be a “reverential” performance or an “operatic” one? Any conductor must decide broadly where they stand and convince their performers to take a similar path.   Plasson’s preference is for a reverential performance, which is to say it’s one that brings out much of the religious impetus behind the music. Of course, the work has its moments of near-operatic drama no matter how it’s performed, but these take second place in the order of priorities.
 
The opening Requiem is affecting in its tenderness, but when the four-part chorus opens up to a mezzo-forte the Achilles heel of the recording is revealed: too much reverberation intrudes from the  Eglise Notre-Dame La Daurade. At full forte this is a performance that gives the work with the broadest of gestures. The Dies Irae finds the choir hitting the notes, but even the keenest ears would be hard pushed to distinguish any of the words they sing for some of the time. The bass drum sounds like it’s placed in a cavernous recess, rather than belting forth for all it is worth, as Muti’s 1979 EMI recording has it doing. You feel the terror of Judgement Day in no uncertain terms there. Even though Plasson uses the atmosphere well with for the Tuba Mirum, he still makes less impact than Muti, whose achievement is increased by more incisive pacing and better playing. It’s pretty much the same with Muti’s later live recording for EMI also – recorded in Teatro all Scala, it suffers few of the acoustic problems that afflict Plasson. Those that know the work can easily foretell the points when their imagination will be needed to fill in textural clarity that even a thirty year old studio recording provides with ease: Sanctus, Libera Me, … Even the classic Giulini studio set sounds a bit dated (1963/4) but it wants for little in terms of focus at such moments. Other live recordings from 1961 and 1963 also offer similar focus at crucial times. Final small gripe about the conducting: just occasionally rests are felt where none are written: Libera Me, first chorus entry. Momentary though they are, they detract from the drama and musical momentum.
 
Soloists: two good, two not so good. Julia Varady sings with commitment and precision throughout. The voice is caught in excellent shape, even if she can open up the tone a little too readily above mezzo-forte. That said, it’s hard to avoid doing so given what the soloist is asked to sing – particularly in the Libera Me. Varady floats and blends her voice well with her colleagues also – her tone does not quite have the edge of Scotto (earlier Muti) or quite the opulence of Studer (later Muti). 
 
By contrast Felicity Palmer can sound something of a harridan, which is most unfortunate, because she is anything but that when heard live in my experience. The Liber scriptus is a bit too insistent, whereas the Recordare comes off with more subtlety.
 
Keith Olsen is not an Italianate tenor. He’s as far from Gigli (Serafin 1939 on EMI or Naxos Historical) or Pavarotti (later Muti) as one could imagine. His thin, hard tones do him few favours in such company – and much less so when Helge Rosvaenge (Karajan, 1948 on Preisler) and Carlo Cossutto (Karajan, 1975 on DG) are the comparisons. Alagna for Abbado has a brave stab at the part.
 
At the time of making this recording, Roberto Scandiuzzi was in his prime as a bass. Therefore, he’s an asset – or at least he would be if the acoustic did not do so much to undermine his performance. In the Confutatis maledictis and elsewhere he’s lost in a sea of ambient fog which robs him of presence and authority. Pinza (Serafin 1939) remains the touchstone for many, me included; though Nesterenko for Muti (1979) runs him a close second in the authority stakes.
 
Despite the good intentions at the heart of this set, whichever way one examines it the results simply do not deliver enough to secure a recommendation.
 
Evan Dickerson
 


 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.