Search - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Zdenek Kosler, Slovakia Philharmonic Orchestra :: Mozart: Requiem

Satisfying traditional interpretation from Slovakia

Leslie Richford | Selsingen, Lower Saxony | 02/09/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Unlike most listeners I learned to love Mozart?s ?Requiem?, not in the traditionally performed version as completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr [that is the correct spelling; Naxos insist on adding an ?e? before the final ?r?, but that is just a mistake], but in the ?purified? and consequently somewhat truncated version by Maunder, as performed by The Academy of Ancient Music, directed by Christopher Hogwood. Some years later, I came across the Druce version, which, as recorded by the London Classical Players under the baton of Roger Norrington, attempts to rewrite the Requiem as Mozart would have done. Both the Maunder and the Druce make the fundamental(ist) presupposition that Süssmayr was a bad musician and did not really interpret Mozart?s notes correctly. The recordings are, of course, splendid, as to be expected from these illustrious ensembles.



Some years later, I decided to find out what Hogwood, Norrington & co. were rebelling against and bought the traditional Süssmayr version published by Naxos. This recording was made in 1985, two years before Naxos was founded, and I assume that it was originally meant for another label, perhaps Marco Polo or the Czech Opus label, with whom Klaus Heymann of Naxos appears to have had a good relationship. Perhaps that would explain why the sound is a lot better than I had expected: the technical level of the recording is definitely full-price, with the possible exception of a buzzing noise during part of the ?Tuba mirum?. The soloists have their own microphones and stand out clearly from the massive choir. It took me some time to adjust my ears to this non-early music performance, but when I was finally able to listen to it without too much prejudice, I found it satisfying. Occasionally the organ is a little obtrusive, perhaps, but this is, as a whole, an excellent recording by the Czech-Slovak team directed by Czech conductor Zdenek Kosler.



In 2003, Nikolaus Harnoncourt recorded Mozart?s Requiem in the version by Franz Beyer, which is not a re-writing in the same sense as the Maunder or Druce but rather a revision of the Süssmayr. Harnoncourt?s choir is a lot smaller than Kosler?s, or at least it sounds that way, and the historical instruments of the Concentus musicus Wien have more prominence on the spacious DSD recording (BMG Deutsche Harmonia Mundi), although there were one or two passages where I felt that the singers, in particular, could have been captured on record a little more directly. The female soloists Christine Schäfer and Bernarda Fink (two beautiful voices) seem particularly ill-served by the microphones, and I found myself wishing that they had been as wonderfully conserved as the equally lovely voices of Magdaléna Hajóssyová and Jaroslava Horská on the Naxos disc.



If you are looking for a budget-priced traditional interpretation of Mozart-Süssmayr, you cannot go wrong with the Naxos disc. But you might like to try one or more of the other versions mentioned here, just to compare and enjoy.

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