Georges Bizet (1838-1875) - Te Deum

Bizet won the Rome Prize in 1857. The Prize enabled Bizet to enjoy the life of an independant artist in Rome without financial concerns. He began many projects during his years there but completed only a few of them, including the Te Deum.

He began working on it in February 1858, had the fully instrumented score ready in May, and submitted it to the Rodrigues Competition in Paris. Only recipients of the Rome Price were eligible to participate in this competition for new sacred compositions.

The prize came along with a handsome sum of 1.500 francs, and Bizet already had plans to use the prize money for a trip to Naples. He was thus very disappointed when Barthe was awarded the prize. Although he regarded himself primarily as a victim of Paris intrigues, he was honest enough with himself to admit that he did not have the religious convictions necessary to compose such a work.

Bizet also did not have a feel for Latin. In numerous cases the musical accentuation conflicts with the accentuation of the Latin language. Although he had set himself the task of learning Latin in Rome, he cannot have progressed very far with his studies. Moreover, he took a number of liberties with the traditional text. He inserted the Sanctus out of its usual order and entirely ommited two verses, Et rege eos and Dignare Domine. The members of the Paris jury can hardly have allowed such imperfections to go through.

On the whole the Te Deum may be said to pick up on the style of the Italian church music of the time. The Maestoso at the beginning and end in particular is of the sort of disarming exteriority for which the Italians are both criticized and admired.

Bizet, the music dramatist, shows his fire in two passages. He designed the verse Te ergo quaesumus as an operatic prayer scene, as a preghiera. The chromatic thirds together with the violin cantilena soaring up into the heights may seem to border on kitsch to today's hearer, but in Bizet's times they signified an unbridled outpouring of emotion. The Judex crederis esse venturus also takes the form of a dramatic scene. The choir's cries of horror, judex, judex, resound into the Last Judgement. The choir thus not only tells of the events but also participates in it.

Bizet may have been familiar with the important settings of this passage from Berlioz's Te Deum. This work of Bizet's youth also heralds a major musical talent.

The Compact Disc was released by Calig, 1996, (DDD). CAL 50956.

Soprano: Angela Maria Blasi
Tenor: Christian Elsner
Baritone: Dietrich Henschel

Münchner MotettenChor, Münchner Symphoniker, Conductor: Hans Rudolf Zöbeley

Track List:

Charles Gounod - St. Cecilia Mass (for Soli, Choir & Orchestra)

1. Kyrie (5'48")
2. Gloria (8'55")
3. Credo (12'57")
4. Sanctus (6'00")
5. Benedictus (2'48")
6. Agnus Dei (4'45")

Georges Bizet - Te Deum (for Soli, Choir & Orchestra)

7. Te Deum laudamus (5'14")
8. Tu rex gloriae Christe (3'32")
9. Te ergo quaesumus (5'19")
10. Fiat misericordia tua (4'28")

Max Reger (1873-1916) - Requiem op. 144b/op. 145 a/Dies Irae

The works in this recording shed valuable light on Reger's aesthetic position.

Based on a well-known poem entitled "Requiem" by the great German dramatist Friedrich Hebbel Reger's so-called Hebbel-Requiem makes an almost classical impression although it is far from classical in conception.

The dominant mood is one of a nation's simple grief; the work is dedicated to "the memory of the German heroes falling in the Great War".

Reger had already used Hebbel's poem once before in a setting for unaccompanied choir.

His "War Requiem" makes it into an apotheosis of death and eternal life. Emotive elements are not lacking but a restrained dignity predominates, as in the impressive final section where the Lutheran funeral hymn "Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden" enters the polyphonic structure.

Fritz Stein, Reger's friend and biographer, mounted the first performance of the opening movement of Reger's Latin Reuqiem op. 145a in Berlin in 1938: it is given this name to distinguish it from the so-called "Hebbel-Requiem" op. 144b.

The second movement, now presented on this CD, a fragmentary Dies Irae, was not performed in 1938.

Reger who was working on the composition with real enthusiasm suddenly abandoned the project and never took it up again. It has been suggested that when Straube saw the score of the first movement on its way to the printer's, he advised Reger not to go on with it. This prompts one to wonder what Straube's attitude to Reger was ? It must have been basically constructive because after all he was the chief interpreter of Reger's important organ music.

Reger for his part was far too productive to cling to a project once one of his trusted advisers had warned him off it.

The surviving fragments of the work suggest that it would probably have been one of the last liturgical requiems in the nineteeth-century sense of the word.

Reger was working in terms of broad expanses of tonal colour without polyphonic complexities: he contrasts his solo quartet with the main choir in an almost responsorial way, provides his orchestra with almost every conceivable type of instrumental accompaniment, and goes all out for the musical effects which the wording of the text inspires.

Intensely contemplative supplication swells to despairing entreaty, then ebbs away with the despairing insight that man is ultimately powerless.

The Dies Irae then unlocks the flood-gates of terror to evoke visions of horror and nightmare akin, though perhaps unconsciously on the composer's part, to both James Ensor and Hieronymus Bosch.

The Compact Disc was released by Koch Schwann, 1988, (DDD). Koch Schwann 313004 H1.

Soprano: Yoko Kawahara
Alto: Marga Höffgen
Tenor: Hans-Dieter Bader

Chor des Nord Deutschen Rundfunks, Sinfonieorchester des NDR Hamburg, Conductor: Roland Bader

Track List:

1. Requiem op. 144b based on a poem by Hebbel (15'24")
2. Latin Requiem op. 145a - Opening Movement (22'04")
3. Dies Irae - Fragmentary Movement (13'48")
   

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) - Messe Solennelle (North American Premiere Performance)

The Messe Solennelle is the earliest large-scale work by Berlioz to have survived. It was composed in 1824 when Berlioz was 20 years old.

Berlioz went to Jean-Francois Lesueur for some instruction in composition. In his early years he was very productive under Lesueur.

According to Berlioz's Memoirs he composed a cantata, an opera, A Latin oratorio, and a dramatic scene before embarking on the Mass.

All these works, including the Mass, were soon destroyed by the composer.

The Mass was performed in 1825 in the Church of St. Roch, Paris and again in 1827 in the church of St. Eustache before Berlioz turned against it. He decided to burn all the sheets of vocal and orchestral parts of the Mass - the autograph survived.

It was Franz Moors, a school teacher in Antwerp, Belgium, who discovered of the autograph among a small collection of miscellaneous music kept in the organ gallery at the church of St. Charles Borromaeus in 1992.

An inscription on the manuscript helped to explain how it got there: "The score of this Mass, entirely in Berlioz's hand, was given me as a souvenir of the longstanding friendship that binds me to him," signed "A. Bessems, Paris 1835." Bessems was a Belgian violinist, born in Antwerp, who went to Paris to study under Baillot at the Conservatoire in 1826 and thus enrolled at the same time as Berlioz. He probably played in the second performance of the Mass in 1827. He also played in Berlioz's Paris concerts in 1835, at which point - it is assumed - Berlioz gave him the Mass manuscript, perhaps in lieu of a fee. Bessem's career thereafter diverged from Berlioz's, since although he remained in Paris for most of his life, he specialized in chamber music and taught privately. After his death in 1868 the manuscript passed to his brother Joseph, who was in charge of the music at St. Charles Borromaeus in Antwerp, and after Joseph's death in 1892 it remained in the old oak chest in the oragn gallery where Moors found it a hundred years later !

My verdict: this recording is a real gem, Thank You Mr. J. Reilly Lewis !

The Compact Disc was released by Koch International Classics, 1994, (DDD). Koch 3-7204-2 H1.

Baritone: Terry Cook
Soprano: Rosa Lamoreaux
Tenor: Gene Tucker

Washington National Cathedral Choral Society, Music Director: J. Reilly Lewis

Track List:

1. Introduction (1'38")
2. Kyrie (7'07")
3. Gloria (5'00")
4. Gratias (6'19")
5. Quoniam (1'48")
6. Credo (3'43")
7. Incarnatus (3'14"9
8. Crucifixus (2'35")
9. Resurrexit (7'22")
10. Motet pour l'offertoire (3'13")
11. Sanctus (2'39")
12. O Salutaris (3'52")
13. Agnus Dei (3'24")
14. Domine Salvum (3'25")

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) - Messa Solenne (World Premiere Recording)

Verdi began and ended his composing career with sacred music.

His Messa Solenne had its first performance on 15. September 1835 in the church of Sant'Anna fuori le mura in Busseto.

The use of a soprano in the Qui tollis is rather surprising - it appears to be the first time a female voice was ever heard in any of the churches in Busseto.

The Mass cannot be considered as a complete work; for example the Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris and Quoniam tu solus Sanctus section are lost.

Verdi definitely composed the mass under the influence of Rossini and Bellini.


The Compact Disc was released by DECCA, 2001, (DDD). DECCA 467280-2 (DH).

The CD contains 5 Premiere Recording. These early works by Verdi were recently discovered by Professor Dino Rizzo, whose critical editions were used for this recording.

Soprano: Elisabetta Scano
Soprano: Cristina Gallardo-Domas
Tenor: Juan Diego Flórez
Tenor: Kenneth Tarver
Bass. Eldar Aliev
Bass: Michele Pertusi

Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Milano Giuseppe Verdi, Conductor: Riccardo Chailly

Track List:

1. Kyrie Eleison (World Premiere Recording) (1)
   
2. Christe Eleison
3. Kyrie Eleison (2)
   
4. Gloria in excelsis Deo
5. Qui tollis peccata mundi
6. Cum Sancto Spiritu
7. Qui Tollis (World Premiere Recording) (6'05")
8. Tantum Ergo in F Major (World Premiere Recording) (5'27")
9. Laudate Pueri (World Premiere Recording) (6'28")
10. Tantum Ergo in G Major (World Premiere Recording) (5'32")
11. Pater Noster (5'49")
12. Ave Maria (5'36")
13. Libera Me (Messa Per Rossini) (1869 Version) (12'03")
    

Friedrich Kiel (1821-1885) - Missa Solemnis

"Unlike some of his Berlin contemporaries, Friedrich Kiel did not stick to a drily academic imitation of historical composition techniques. His style opended up to the innovations of the time. It is among his merits to have breathed the spirit of Romanticism into the circle of Berlin academics.

Thus we find in the monumental Missa Solemnis a style that integrates linear, contrapuntal thought into the tonal aestetics of the late 19th century.

Thus Friedrich Kiel, in contrast to Beethoven, places the chorus at the centre of his solemn Mass and thereby creates a massive sonority which, in combination with the dense polyphonic complexity, makes great demands on the recipients.

The Missa Solemnis of Friedrich Kiel is a clear stylistic confession of a Protestant articulated on the Basis of the Catholic liturgy. Since, however, large-scale Masses in that phase of musical history had in any case long been seculrised, the composer saw himself to no conflict of belief, for this work also clearly has its place in the concert-hall."

The Compact Disc was released by Capriccio, 1998, (DDD). Capriccio 10 587.

Soprano: Brigitte Lindner
Mezzo-Soprano: Regine Röttger
Alto: Elisabeth Graf
Tenor: Thomas Dewald
Bass: Karl Fäth

Kölner Rundfunkchor, Kölner Rundfunkorchester, Conductor: Helmuth Froschauer

Track List:

1. Kyrie (5'13")
2. Gloria (16'48")
3. Credo (13'52")
4. Sanctus (8'26")
5. Agnus Dei (7'43")
6. Ouverture À Grand Orchestre, Opus 6 (8'46")
   

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) - Messe Solennelle (Orch. Rossini)

Rossini is remembered primarily for his immense contribution to the Italian operatic repertoire, but he also produced two important pieces of sacred music that are notable for their overtly operatic style.

These two important religious works are the STABAT MATER (1842) and the PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE (1863). Rossini didn't compose nothing of significance during the last 40 years of his life; within this span of life he retired completely, and composed "Stabat Mater" and "Petite Messe Solennelle".

The Petite Messe Solennelle is the most substantial of the works written during Rossini's Indian summer of composition. It was composed in 1863 for private performance and is scored for four soloists and chorus, with harmonium and piano accompaniment.

Rossini discreetly orchestrated the Petite Messe Solennelle during 1866-67, partly for fear that it would be done anyway after his death. Without losing its candor and subtlety, the resulting version had its first public performance on 28 February 1869 , three months after the composer's death, and as close as could be to what would have been Rossini's seventy-seventh birthday— at the Théatre Iatlien, Paris. That year both versions were published.


The Compact Disc was released by DECCA, 1995, (DDD). Decca 444134-2 (DX2).

Soprano: Daniella Dessi
Mezzo-Soprano: Gloria Scalchi
Tenor: Giuseppe Sabbatini
Bass: Michele Pertusi

Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Conductor: Riccardo Chailly

Track List:

CD 1

1. Kyrie Eleison - Christe Eleison (6'45")
2. Gloria in excelsis Deo (2'40")
3. Gratias agimus tibi (4'47")
4. Domine Deus (5'17")
5. Qui tollis peccata mundi (6'55")
6. Quoniam ti solus sanctus (7'19")
7. Cum Sancto Spiritu (5'33")

CD 2

1. Credo in unum Deum (3'58")
2. Cruxifixus etiam pro nobis (5'15")
3. Et resurrexit (8'54")
4. Preludio Religioso (8'36")
5. Sanctus (3'55")
6. O salutaris hostia (6'05")
7. Agnus Dei (7'45")
   

Pietro Mascagni (1863 - 1945) - Messa Di Gloria

Pietro Mascagni (December 7, 1863 – August 2, 1945) was an Italian composer, notably known for his operas. He enjoyed immense success during his lifetime, both as a composer and conductor of his own and other people's music.

He also composed a Kyrie for three male voices, an Ave Maria and a Pater Noster for soprano and string quintet. He decided to re-elaborate this material into a Messa di Gloria for soloists, chorus and orchestra.

The first performance was given in April 1888 in the church of Sant'Antonio, being a total and undisputed success.

Feeling, affection, sweetness and at the same time vigour in meldoy: these are the characteristics that are constantly recognised in Mascagni's Mass.

The Compact Disc was released by Nuova Era, 1996, (DDD). Nuova Era 7270.

Tenor: Carlo Allemano
Bariton: Domenico Colaianni

Orchestra Internatzionale d'Italia Opera, Coro da Camera di Bratislava, Conductor: Marko Letonja

Track List:

1. Kyrie
2. Gloria
3. Laudamus
4. Gratias
5. Domine Jesu
6. Qui Tollis
7. Qui Sedis
8. Quonaim
9. Cum Sancto Spiritu
10. Credo
11. Et Incarnatus
12. Et Resurrexit
13. Sanctus
14. Elevazione
15. Benedictus
16. Hosanna
17. Agnus Dei
    

Carl Orff (1895 - 1982) - Carmina Burana (Cantiones Profanae 1936)

Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff, with optional mimed action, in 25 movements for soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists, boys' choir, choir and orchestra (Fourteen of the movements include the choir). It was first performed in Frankfurt in 1937, San Francisco in 1958, London in 1960 (concert) and continues to be a popular concert choice.

The text is a collection of songs about wine, women and love - based on poems in Latin, Old German and Old French from a manuscript dated 1280 found in the Benedictine monastery of Beuren.

Carmina Burana is the first part of Orff's trilogy "Trionfi", the two other works being Cartulli Carmina and Trionfo di Afrodite.

The Compact Disk was released by Berlin Classics, 1960/2008, (ADD). Berlin Classics 0014372BC.

Soprano: Jutta Vulpius
Tenor: Hans-Joachim Rotzsch
Kurt Rehm: Bariton
Bass: Kurt Hübenthal

Rundfunk Kinderchor Leipzig, Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Rundfunksinfonieorchester Leipzig, Conductor: Herbert Kegel

Track List:

1. O Fortuna (2'29")
2. Fortune Plango Vulnera (2'39")
3. Veris Leta Facies (3'59")
4. Omnia Sol Temperat (2'05")
5. Ecce Gratum (2'47")
6. Tanz (1'36")
7. Floret Silva Nobilis (2'58")
8. Chramer, Gip Die Varwe Mir (3'03")
9. Swaz Hie Gat Umbe Chume, Chum Geselle Min, Swaz Hie Gat Umbe (4'00")
10. Were Diu Werlt Alle Min (0'54")
11. Estuans Interius (2'30")
12. Olim Lacus Colueram (3'57")
13. Ego Sum Abba (1'37")
14. In Taberna Quando Sumus (3'05")
15. Amor Volat Undique (3'21")
16. Dies, Nox Et Omnia ((2'27")
17. Stetit Puella (1'52")
18. Circa Mea Pectora (2'09")
19. Si Puer Cum Puellula (0'55")
20. Veni, Veni, Venias (0'56")
21. In Trutina Mentis Dubia (1'56")
22. Tempus Est Iocundum (2'08")
23. Dulcissime (0'44")
24. Ave Formosissima (1'56")
25. O Fortuna (2'34")
    

Johann Georg Lickl (1769-1843) - Requiem C-Moll

Johann Georg Lickl was born 1769 in Korneuburg in Lower Austria. In his childhood he received a training as a church choir boy; he played the organ and and a number of stringed instruments.

He studied the art of composition under the Albrechtsbergers and Joseph Haydn. He revered Mozart, so it is no wonder that he made for example own copies of Mozart's masses to include them in his repertoire from 1808 right up until his death. It is known that he made a copy of Mozart's Requiem in 1830 precisely, the same year as Lickl composed his Requiem in C Minor.

He was a great composer of church music. A part of his works cover at least 30 masses, 50 graduals, 30 offertories, 5 requiems, and several hyms and vespers.

Lickl's music is rooted in the classical traditions of Austrian and South German church music.
The shape and movement of his works have a beautiful colouring and a variation of tonality.

The Compact Disc was released by Koch Schwann, 1995, (DDD). 3-1296-2.

Soprano: Maria Zadori
Mezzo-Soprano: Judith Német
Tenor: Boldizsar Keönch
Bass: Tamas Bator

Pécs Chamber Choir, Pécs Symphony Orchestra, Conductor: Howard Williams

Track List:

Requiem C minor

1. Requiem.Kyrie (4'37")
2. Dies Irae (7'10")
3. Domine Jesu (7'05")
4. Sanctus (1'20")
5. Benedictus (3'15")
6. Anus Dei (5'06")

Missa Solemnis F major

1. Kyrie (4'48")
2. Gloria (4'56")
3. Credo (6'35")
4. Sanctus (1'11")
5. Benedictus (4'01")
6. Agnus Dei (3'00")
7. Dona Nobis (1'23")
   

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) - Messa Da Requiem

The reason for composing this masterpiece was primarily the death of Alessandro Manzoni in 1873, Verdi's most revered Italian writer. With this Requiem, Verdi wanted to erect a memorial in Manzoni's honour.

By April 1874, Verdi finished the Requiem in 1874. The performance in the church of San Marco in Milan was an incredible success. Three days after the peformance a second performance was conducted by Verdi at La Scala (!). Franco Faccio conducted a further two.

Is Verdi's Messa Da Requiem sacred music ? The answer may be yes, because there is a liturgical text set to music. Verdi's intention was to express the emotional meaning and implications of the liturgical text. The Requiem unquestionably conveys operatic elements. But nevertheless the Requiem can be performed either in church or theatre.

The Copact Disc (2 CD) was released by Deutsche Grammophon, year of production1972, purchase in 1991, Digitally Remastered, (ADD). Deutsche Grammophon 413215-2 (G/GA2).

Soprano: Mirella Freni
Contralto: Christa Ludwig
Tenor: Carlo Cossutta
Bass: Nicolai Ghiaurov

Wiener Singverein, Berliner Philharmoniker, Chorus Master: Helmuth Froschauer, Conductor: Herbert von Karajan

Track List:

CD 1:

1. Requiem Aeternam (8'51")
2. Dies Irae (2'24")
3. Tuba Mirum (3'42")
4. Liber Scriptus (5'30")
5. Quid Sum Miser (3'51")
6. Rex Tremendae (3'55")
7. Recordare (4'23")
8. Ingemisco (3'57")
9. Confutatis (5'50")
10. Lacrymosa (6'05")

CD 2:

1. Offertorio (11'29")
2. Sanctus (3'05)
3. Agnus Dei (5'06")
4. Lux Aeterna (6'42")
5. Libera Me (13'50")
   

Joao Domingos Bomtempo (1775-1842) - Messe De Requiem

Joao Domingos Bomtempo is regarded as one of the first promoters of native Portuguese music. His compositional influences in his music derive from Paris, to which he moved in 1801. In 1821 he finally made his home in Portugal. He had formed Portugal's first concert organization, the Philharmonic Society, in 1822.

The Requiem was composed in Paris in 1819, the original title is: Messe de Requiem consacrée à la mémoire de Camoes.

In the Requiem the choir takes a dominant part of the work, the soloists making only occasional contributions. Many text passages, which are set for solo performance in other great Requiems, remain in the background.

The Compact Disc was released by Berlin Classics,1997, (ADD). Berlin Classics 0092452BC.

Soprano: Ana Pusar
Contralto: Heidi Rieß
Tenor: Christian Vogel
Bass: Hermann Christian Polster

Rundfunkchor Berlin, Rundfunk-Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Conductor: Heinz Rögner

Track List:

1. Requiem Aeternam (4'54")
2. Kyrie Eleison (1'41")
3. Christe Eleison (2'46")
4. Dies Irae (2'15")
5. Tuba Mirum (2'06")
6. Judex Ergo (1'51")
7. Quid Sum Miser (3'00")
8. Juste Judex (1'41")
9. Ingemisco (2'42")
10. Confutatis (2'45")
11. Lacrymosa (3'05")
12. Dona Eis Requiem (1'39")
13. Domine Jesu Christe (4'27")
14. Hostias Et Preces (4'42")
15. Sanctus (2'47")
16. Benedictus (3'12")
17. Agnus Dei (9'37")
18. Requiem Aeternam (2'09")
    

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) - Requiem R. 488

The church music of Liszt is the least known part of his works, though the "Gran Mass" and the "Coronation Mass" are occasionally performed in church or at concerts. The Requiem and the psalms - in comparison - lack popularity in so far that they are almost unknown.

Liszt's Requiem was written for male chorus and organ. He adhered to one of the main trends in church music of the time; the movement was called "Celician" that should lead sacred music back to Gregorian chant and Palestrina's style.

The work was composed in the late 60s of the 19th century. It is said that Liszt composed this Requiem in memory of his mother and children.

The Compact Disc was released by Hungaroton Classics, 1994, (ADD). HCD 11267.

Tenors: Alfonz Bartha, Sándor Palcsó
Baritone: Zsoit Bende
Bass: Péter Kovács

Hungarian Army Male Chorus, Organ: Sándor Margittay, Conductor: János Ferencsik

Track List:

1. Requiem Aeternam (8'45")
2. Dies Irae (16'02")
3. Offertorium (8'00")
4. Sanctus (6'47")
5. Agnus Dei (5'18")
6. Libera Me (5'14")
   

Messa Per Rossini - Requiem In Honour Of Gioacchino Rossini (Completed in September 1869) - World Premiere Recording

This extraordinary work was composed by thirteen Italian maestri. Verdi contributed as last part of the work the "Libera Me". It differs significantly from that of Verdi's "Messa Da Requiem".

The libretto of the work was already printed in 1869, but unfortunately the first performance came to nothing because of organizational, financial, ideological and cultural-political differences.

Over the years, the existence of the Messa Da Requiem fell into total oblivion.

It was David Rosen who discovered eight of the 13 autographs and two copies constituting the Messa Da Requiem in the archives of the Ricordi publishing house in Milan in 1970 !

The exemplary collaboration of the Internationale Bachakademie, the Verdi Institute in Parma, and the publisher G. Ricordi & C. in Milan led to the discovery of other sources of the Messa Per Rossini in Italy.

After a 119-year-long archival slumber, the World Premiere of the Messa Per Rossini took place on 11 September 1988.

The 2 CD set is a must-have for every collector of classical music !

The Compact Disc (2 CD) was released by hänssler classics, 1989, (DDD). hänssler classic 98.949.

Sopran: Gabriela Benackova
Contralto: Florence Quivar
Tenor: James Wagner
Bariton: Alexandru Agache
Bass: Aage Haugland

Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart, Prager Philharmonischer Chor, Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart, Conductor: Helmuth Rilling

Track List:

CD 1:

1. Antonio Buzzolla - Requiem (6'30"), Kyrie (3'15")
2. Antonio Bazzini - Dies Irae (5'05")
3. Carlo Pedrotti - Tuba Mirum (6'21")
4. Antonio Cagnoni - Quid Sum Miser (7'12")
5. Frederico Ricci - Recordare Jesu (8'19")
6. Alessandro Nini - Ingemisco (10'59")
7. Raimondo Boucheron - Confutatis (3'28"), Oro Supplex (6'09")

CD 2:

1. Carlo Coccia - Lacrimosa (2'44"), Amen (4'03")
2. Gaetano Gaspari - Domine Jesu (2'08"), Quam olim Abrahae (1'42"), Hostias (2'45"), Quam olim Abrahae (2'28")
3. Pietro Platania - Sanctus (4'54"), Benedictus (2'40")
4. Lauro Rossi - Agnus Dei (6'16")
5. Toedulo Mabellini - Lux Aeterna (9'32")
6. Guiseppe Verdi - Libera Me (7'28"), Requiem Aeternam-Libera Me (5'52")
   

Anton Dvorak (1841-1904) - Requiem, Opus 89

Anton Dvorak was an undisputed leader of the Czeck symphony. He composed several symphonies and operas. He was familiar with choral mass composition. In 1890 he accepted a commissioned work - a requiem - to be performed in Birmingham in 1891.

Dvorak's requiem is a dramatic composition, more intended for a concert performance rather than for liturgical purposes.

The Compact Disc (2 CD) was released by Forlane, 1991, (ADD).
UCD 16636 Forlane.

Soprano: Elisabeth Rose
Contralto: Gertraud Prenzlow
Tenor: Peter Schreier
Bass: Theo Adam

Choeurs de la Radio de Berlin, Berlin Radio Chorus, Orchestre Symphonique de la radio de Berlin, Conductor: Karel Ancerl

Track List

CD 1:

1. Requiem Aeternam (10'52")
2. Graduale (4'54")
3. Dies Irae (3'46")
4. Tuba Mirum (6'56")
5. Quid Sum Miser (5'54")
6. Recordare, Jesu Pie (6'36")
7. Confutatis Maledictis (4'42")
8. Lacrimosa (5'52")

CD 2:

1. Offertorium (11'20")
2. Hostias (11'21")
3. Sanctus (5'54")
4. Pie Jesu (5'42")
5. Agnus Dei (10'47")

Franz von Suppé (1819-1895) - Requiem (World Premiere Recording)

Suppé's Requiem was dedicated to his friend Franz Pokorny. It was finished in 1855. When you listen to the music, you recognize a strong operatic Italian style. It was written for a four-voice choir, four soloists and orchestra. The masterpiece was rarely performed, so it slipped into oblivion later. After the composition had been rediscovered, a World Premiere Recording followed in 1989.

The Compact Disc was released by BNL Productions, 1989, (DDD).
BNL 112774.

Soprano: Ouliana Tchaikowski
Alto: Danielle Michel
Tenor: Gilles Vitale
Bass: Jean-Louis Bindi

Jugendsinfonieorchester de la Ville de Bonn, Chorales Franco-Allemandes de Lyon,
Conductor: Wolfgang Badun

Track List:

1. Requiem, Kyrie (7'21")
   
2. Dies Irae (1'36")
   
3. Tuba Mirum (7'11")
   
4. Rex Tremendae (1'50")
   
5. Recordare (5'23")
   
6. Confutatis (3'37")
   
7. Lacrimosa (4'56")
   
8. Domine Jesu (4'53")
   
9. Hastias (6'13")
   
10. Sanctus (2'22")
    
11. Benedictus (5'00")
    
12. Agnus Dei (9'46")
    
13. Libera Me (4'32")
    

Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) - Requiem

This is Bruckner's early Requiem of 1849. It's one of my favourite requiem by a composer. The orchestration of his requiem is simple; it's not a perfect masterpiece. But when you listen to the music you will find so much grace, beautifulness and sadness in it.

The Compact Disc was released by Hyperion, 1987, (DDD). CDA66245.

Soprano: Joan Rodgers
Contralto: Catherine Denley
Tenor: Maldwyn Davies
Bass: Michael George

Corydon Singers, English Chamber Orchestra, Conductor: Matthew Best

Track List:

1. Requiem Aeternam
2. Dies Irae
3. Domine Jesu Christe
4. Hostias Et Preces
5. Quam Olim Abrahae
6. Sanctus
7. Benedictus
8. Agnus Dei
9. Requiem Aeternam
10. Cum Sanctus Tuis
11. Psalm 114
12. Psalm 112