Scientific Survey: Fauré’s Requiem

[Todd]

#7

This recording has two main, obvious draws.  First is the esteemed Ms Boulanger, pupil of the composer, a superheavyweight among 20th Century teachers, and experienced conductor of this work.  Second is Reri Grist.  At around thirty-eight minutes, this is taut and fleet, but man does it flow.  It never sounds weighed down, heavy, or dour, but it always sounds unwaveringly serious.  Ms Grist does not disappoint, though some may dislike the amount of vibrato.  The chorus gets into the groove, though the occasional tape overload mars things ever so slightly.  Overall, this here's a humdinger. 

[(poco) Sforzando]

#7

This recording has two main, obvious draws.  First is the esteemed Ms Boulanger, pupil of the composer, a superheavyweight among 20th Century teachers, and experienced conductor of this work.  Second is Reri Grist.  At around thirty-eight minutes, this is taut and fleet, but man does it flow.  It never sounds weighed down, heavy, or dour, but it always sounds unwaveringly serious.  Ms Grist does not disappoint, though some may dislike the amount of vibrato.  The chorus gets into the groove, though the occasional tape overload mars things ever so slightly.  Overall, this here's a humdinger. 

This performance was also included in the NYPhil's 10-CD "historic broadcasts" box set, where the Fauré was coupled with Monteux's Tombeau de Couperin and Cantelli conducting La Mer. It's a great set if you can find it. Among the many highlights is Bernstein conducting the most intense Berg 3 Orchestra Pieces I've ever heard.

[Todd]

#6

Tortelier and his forces go big so as to not go home.  Even with a few bits where slow tempi predominate, the impact and force of the playing and choral singing, augmented by some nicely reverberant and dynamic recorded sound, hit the spot.  There's drama and seriousness of purpose; muscular beauty akin to a musical Vladislava Galagan; superb solo singing from both Timothy Robinson and Libby Crabtree; and an overall sense of energized devotion with generous dollops o' Gallic goodness. 

[Todd]

#5

Knight Herreweghe* had to appear in one of his several recordings, so I went for this Harmonia Mundi recording.  The Knight opts for the big band treatment, but he has a couple tricks up his sleeve.  First, he goes for "period" instruments – whatever that means for a work from the late 19th Century – and second, he uses a harmonium rather than an organ.  Those facts, plus his conducting, plus the recording and mixing techniques, yield a supremely clean and clear take, filled with energy and drama, and entirely devoid of schmalz.  It's serious but not heavy.  It's beautiful but not sonically plush.  Throw in some singers who know their business and a chorus that definitely knows its collective business, and this here's a kick-ass Requiem.  Well, in so far as so polite and restrained a glorious musical construction can be.  While I'm not a HIP guy, sometimes HIPsters do the do well. 


* Knight.  Tee-hee.  Europeans. 

[Todd]

#4

When surveying this work, one must of course listen to the André Cluytens recording.  Professional music critics like it, but much more importantly, real music fans do as well.  And with good reasons.  Broad of overall approach, but not slow, it packs in drama aplenty without going overboard, and it always sounds beautiful.  The Introitus reveals instantly that this is no lightweight version, and the delicious choral vibrato works splendidly, as does that imposing organ underpinning in the Kyrie.  This recording marks the second appearance of DFD, and here he brings his A-game, which means he generates beautiful tone and lieder-like nuance, and hits it out of the park.  That Victoria de los Angeles brings a slightly more operatic feel to go with that soul-grabbing beauty and likewise hits it out of the park is not only no surprise, it would be expected even if one had never heard this recording before.  Mmm-hmm, good stuff.

[Todd]

#3

Michel Plasson and crew deliver one of the slowest extant renditions of the work, and right from the start of the very slow Introitus, one knows this will be slow.  The Kyrie sounds even slower in comparative terms, and the recording establishes a solemn, more overtly devout feel than most.  It works fantastically well.  This here recording defines somber beauty.  Plasson also uses A+ soloists, and when Jose Van Dam enters, one here's the benefit of using such singers.  There's some operatic panache, but he keeps his singing very tasteful and reserved, to the extent such singing can remain reserved.  Barbara Hendricks works her magic, as well.  Yeah, this is the shit.

[Todd]

#2

The opening Introit (separately tracked) and Kyrie manage to combine both tautness and all-consuming beauty, setting the stage for what follows.  What follows starts with a gentle, kinda billowy, almost dreamlike Offertory, with the chorus working magic.  Only slightly less magical is Stéphane Degout, who achieves near Souzayian beauty.  Then the Sanctus comes along, and Ms Equilbey's chorus works even more magic.  Then the high point arrives in the form of the great Sandrine Piau, so delicate and gentle and meltingly beautiful of voice, that one sorts of collapses into a state of immobile ecstasy in the Pie Jesu.  In terms of irresistible gorgeousness she outpaces even de los Angeles and Popp, and falls just shy of but one singer in this survey (more on that later).   In Paradisum is downright paradisiacal.  One of the very best takes, hence the scientifically determined ranking.

[Todd]

It was inevitable.  In this Requiem, there can be no greater version than the better than perfect version delivered by Carlo Maria Giulini.  He gives the work the full Giulini treatment.  Right from the opening of the Introit, one hears something a bit different.  Dark and subdued to open, both from the band and the choir, there's a profound seriousness of musical purpose to every note.  No one, not Plasson, not Celi, nobody is more serious.  Giulini's take does not sound mournful or even necessarily even solemn.  It just sounds serious and elevated, transcendental.  This is a Requiem, after all.  Perhaps one can detect whiffs o' Brahms in some of the string playing, maybe, but that hardly counts as a strike given the overall effect.  Besides, with moments like the hushed, beautiful, and entrancing opening of the Offertory, how can one even begin to quibble?  The young Andreas Schmidt sings beautifully, imparting a sense of serenity, never pushing in the Offertory, and cranking it up in the start of the Libera me before returning to something more solemn.  Giulini briefly lets rip in the movement as well.  So good is the choral singing, so dialed into the music, that there are passages where the music begins to take on the feel of devout Renaissance era requiems.  It just can't get better than this.  The choral singing here has nearly the same all-encompassing, all-consuming beauty and impact of the best renditions of music by Morales.  The slow In Paradisum ends the work with gorgeous, gentle music from all forces.

Beyond all the goodness described thus far, Giulini has an ace up his sleeve.  The Pie Jesu is literally far beyond perfect, because, you see, Kathleen Battle took temporary leave from paradise to pop in and sing the music so beautifully that even the otherwise most dulcet voiced angels listen in envy and weep with joy when they hear this rendition.  I have read a brief summation of Ms Battle's formidable talent that states she has the musical instincts of a shoe box, but the ultimately indescribable gorgeousness of her voice overcomes any and all limitations.  There is some truth to that, and here the vocal beauty is so extreme that the listener runs the very real risk of being reduced to a blubbering pile of goo.  But what blubbering!  What goo!!

From time to time, I have read criticisms of Mr Giulini's monumental, epochal recording, but any criticisms are somewhat like criticizing the sun for being too bright or bacon for being too delicious.  No!  This is The One.  There is no doubt that this rates among my top twenty recordings ever, of anything, and likely my top ten. 

Remember to keep your feet on the ground, and keep reaching for the stars.

[San Antone]

Nice survey, but you left out my favorite recording.

[Todd]

I'll circle back to Willcocks after my next couple listening projects are complete.  There's at least one new recording of the work coming in the next 90 days or so, as well.

[Elk]

Indeed, a nice survey.

The only version I've kept, though I have not heard most of the versions you heard is