Search - Hector Berlioz, Colin Davis, Dresden Staatskapelle :: Berlioz: Große Totenmesse, Op. 5

An inspiring Requiem from the elder Davis, with real spiritu

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 03/07/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Amazon isn't making it easy to find this live Berlioz ?requiem by using the German title of Grosse Toten messe, but assuming that curious customers do find it, is there a reason to buy latter-day Colin Davis when his famous early version on Philips is around? It can even be had in SACD on the PentaTone label. Whatever the format, that Requiem set a standard for excitement and drama that has hardly been surpassed in four decades. We have a monumental rival in Bernstein's account on Sny, recorded in Les Invalides with French forces and therefore capturing the composer's intention that this work should create such a gigantic, overwhelming sound as to terrify its listeners. No ddoubt Bernstein did just that in performance. As recorded, however, there's a certain muzzy hollowness to the recorded sound. Not that any recorded account can come close to hearing this gargantuan requiem in concert.



I am enthusiastic about Davis's Dresden performance for several reasons. First, it's not lurid and sensational. Davis has seasoned into a different kind of Berlioz conductor, one who reaches for effects that are touching and restrained. It takes experienced musicianship to reach into the score that way, because at every turn Berlioz tempts the conductor to play to the gallery with flash and bombast. For that reason, I've always felt that the Requiem is a touch sleazy, it's grandeur tainted by cheap thrills. Not here. Davis goes for the cosmic overkill of the Tuba mirum -- one wouldn't want anything less -- while keeping his eye out for other sections of moving eloquence.



the second reason I'm enthusiastic is the superb Dresden chorus, which can hit all the notes, phrase sensitively, stay in tune, and pronounce the ext very clearly. Nobody since Robert Shaw's Atlanta chorus on Telarc has risen quite to this level, although both Ozawa and James Levine lead excellent professional choruses. the only drawback is that the choral forces are set a bit far back in a resonant space, giving a cathedral sonority that I find quite appealing, even if it's not the last word in visceral impact. In all other respects, the engineers have done a very good job, really quite close to any current studio effort. The great Dresden Staatskapelle makes lusioucs sounds, as you'd expect. The treacherously high tenor solo in the Sanctus is sung by Keith Ikaia-Purdy, who is throaty and wobbly, the only real detraction in the performance.



In all, there is a reason to buy latter-day Davis, great as his younger self was."