Requiem, which one you like and why

With respect to the Palestrina... early 1960's my church choir had 23 men and 40 boys... some of the men sang with the Robert Shaw Chorus of the Cleveland Orchestra. We would practice a Palestrina (or other) mass on Thursday choir practice then perform on Sunday mornings. We all learned Latin.

There were no women in the choir until 1965.

Decades later I sang the tenor line of Schubert "Benedictus" from his Mass in G with one of the soprano's and bass in our choir....haven't done that in 20 years
 
Not my cup of tea. I struggle with voices in classical pieces. Not all requiems have vocal solos and choirs, so perhaps this is a good time to learn more.
Perhaps I was traumatized as a child? I grew up listening to the foundations of classical music. I never took to the vocal scales and octave reaches, it almost bothers me(not really of course, but YES).
 
I've heard Verdi Requiem with Slatkin conducting SLSO sometimes in the 90s of the last century. It was very impressive, but not as great as my fav, recording Bernstein conducting LSO.
That's a great performance, let down by - at least on my Oz LP 'CBS' pressing, the only one I've heard - rather thin sound. Maybe it's better on CD or the original US Columbia LP issue?

For some reason, local (Oz) CBS discs in the 1970s were of so-so quality; I had to return three Dylan albums to the manufacturer for new copies. A shame, as the CBS "Sound of Genius Masterworks" reissue series had some great artists and performances.

Geoff
 
Let's continue then.
Czech composer Zelenka, 1679. This requiem is not just chorus, we have instruments, small chamber. This is nice recording because of famous Magdalena Kozena, contralto.
 

Attachments

  • 20250627_091519.jpg
    20250627_091519.jpg
    495.8 KB · Views: 5
  • 20250627_091552.jpg
    20250627_091552.jpg
    597.4 KB · Views: 4
  • Like
Reactions: shadowplay62
I have two recordings of the Berlioz Requiem, the first is Robert Shaw conducting the Atlantic Symphony and Chorus, the second is James Levine conducting the Berlin Philharmonic -- Luciano Pavarotti included.
That was the first time I did out of town equipment engineering for Telarc. The Soundstream recorder was different than anything I had ever used. We received 4 Grammys for that recording.
I has done small scale local analog recording for Telarc before that.
Telarc would call me when none of their regular engineers were available.
 
  • Like
Reactions: stv
Bibers requiem is a good one. And i like Gilles to.
Franz von Suppes requiem is an odd but interesting one. Not at all operetta-like.
But Domenico Cimarosas requeim is my all time favourite. Wonderful Philips recording with Elly Ameling.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sser2