Mozart: Requiem - Rudolf Kempe, Berlin Philharmonic, Choir of St. Hedwigs Cathedral
 | Average Customer Rating: Recommend Product details and pricing info |
|---|
2 Customer Reviews Posted
- A beautiful, reverent requiem
- I bought this recording on vinyls somewhere around 1965, and was SO glad to see that it had been reissued on disc. The requiem is truly beautiful in every sense of the word. Every phrase has been thought out and is rendered reverently. The four soloists are simply beyond perfection. Elisabeth Grummer's voice is radiant with faith in the Divine Source. Marga Hoffgen is strong and blends well with the other three. The tenor, Helmut Krebs is light and floats, perfect for Mozart and Gottlob Frick, the great German bass, is the rock and foundation for the whole quartet. Let's not leave out the Berlin Phil-they play exquisitely and respond to every nuance that Kempe asks for. Kempe was a very spiritual person, so please expect a Requiem of great depth and as an expression of faith. One other thing to notice for those of you who desire a more modern recording: this is post war Germany. The tempi will seem slow to begin with, but as you get used to it, no other choices seem to work. This is a Requiem to savour and enjoy!
- 2006-10-13, 5 of 5 people found this review helpful, Rated:
- Excellent Reference Requiem
- EMI continues to outshine their major label classical peers. While Sony/BMG is deleting their budget line and UNI is focusing on expensive limited edition box sets, EMI Classics new "Historical" reissues are budget-priced, in fact at half the price of their old mid-line "References" historical series. Actually, this 1955 mono account of the Mozart Requiem by Rudolf Kempe and the Berlin Philharmonic was available in that old "References" series (coupled with an enjoyable 1956 Bruckner "Te Deum" led by Karl Foster with some of the same singers and the same orchestra, which is omitted in this new reissue), and until now it was commanding outrageous prices as a collector's item. Kempe didn't record much Mozart -- a few old EMI recordings of the Symphonies have been licensed out to Testament -- but what I've encountered I've thoroughly enjoyed. Still, this disc is for those who love this great work, and want a second (third, fourth or fifth) opinion. Classic stereo accounts by Colin Davis or von Karajan, or a highly acclaimed 2004 recording by Harnoncourt if you desire digital, deserve first considerations. (On a personal note, I very much enjoy two stereo budget accounts, the EMI Seraphim title conducted by Giulini and the Universal by Kertesz -- see my review of the latter.) But as a reference recording, it's hard to overlook Kempe.
- 2006-08-28, 2 of 3 people found this review helpful, Rated:
