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DAVID BRYSON | Glossop Derbyshire England | 10/06/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Whether or not I ought to have awarded this disc the full 5 stars, I certainly ought to say right away that nobody who has bought it need regret buying it for a moment and nobody thinking of buying it need hesitate. It is a first-class account of this great work and well recorded too, but not quite as well recorded as the Davis version is, and maybe not quite its equal as a performance. As a monument to Giulini, who died in the early summer of this year at an age nearly three times the age Mozart attained, it is a worthy one.



I have never got on top of the fine detail of exactly what sections of the Requiem are not by Mozart, or not entirely by Mozart. It's obvious even to me that the music of the final Lux aeterna is cribbed directly from that of the Te decet hymnus and the Kyrie, which are indisputably by Mozart, the adaptation being equally indisputably by Suessmayr his pupil. The last section of the text that Mozart was working on when he died is the Lacrimosa, but so far as I know he had previously sketched some of the later music but had not fully completed all the earlier. With one exception, it all sounds like feasible Mozart to me. The exception is the Tuba mirum, and I was relieved to learn recently from a professional musician that this sequence, which would otherwise have been an extraordinary and unaccountable lapse by this of all composers, is not after all from his own hand. The vulgate `tuba', given as `trumpet' in English, is `Posaune' (trombone) in Luther's bible, but far from awakening the dead this ghastly trombone solo would more likely have had them hiding under their shrouds, and it says a lot for Giulini's authority and tact that he manages to invest the passage with at least some dignity.



There is really nothing to criticise, and a great deal to praise, in the performance. That wonderful start - grave, calm, dominated by clarinet tone and unlike anything else in all music, is as wonderful as it must be. The sense of style is unerring all the way through, and the distinguished performers continue to distinguish themselves. The recording, from 1978, is perfectly good, but in 1967 Colin Davis was actually given a better one, so I have reserved my fifth star for that disc. There is a touch of extra vividness now and again too, notably at the start of the Dies irae, that puts Davis ahead, and this may or may not be entirely a matter of the recording. The liner-note is adequate although nothing special, and the words are not provided. I know them by heart anyway, as many will, but I wonder what was saved by not including them. A fine disc altogether and thoroughly recommendable whatever the `competition'."

Giulini-Mozart. A good combination

Ytzan | Athens, GR | 02/10/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am a fan of Giulini's work. His Bruckner is unsurpassed, his Mahler one of the best out there. Although I knew of his Mozart and the great things he had done in opera, I had not really heard much. I was interested to see how a genius of the late Romantics could deal with something less complex as the "Requiem". This is a masterpiece. The Philharmonia playing is great, well balanced and gives the feeling of an intimate relation with the music. Not a word about soloists and chorus that are fantastic and give that extra something that does a good interpretation, a great interpretation. By far, Christa Ludwig, one of my favourite mezzos due to her Mahler work the highlight of the recording. I would rate this CD almost as high as Verdi's Requiem again with Giulini and the Philharmonia. The only difference-the ultimate set of soloists in the latter set. In any case a good CD to have"