Verdi: Requiem - Quattro Pezzi Sacri [Box set]

I won't make you read the entire review to get my take: I prefer the Gardiner/ORR recording to the Shaw/ASO for the simple reason that there is more fire, drive, dynamic, or other related adjective involved in this performance than any other.

Gardiner's players are absolutely deadly - you need look no further than tracks two and three for evidence of that! The tempi, while quite brisk, do not daunt this remarkable ensemble, and they play with an astounding precision. 50 percent of that credit is due, however, to Gardiner's outstanding conducting (most/all of his recordings with just about any group are staggeringly precise - check out The Planets with the Philharmonia!).

The choir, being the Monteverdi Choir, sings an incredible performance, but using far more vibrato than is normally heard from them - consistent with the style of the work. Their technique and facility equal that of the orchestra: a combination that is difficult to beat.

The tempi, taken as literally from the score as possible, are faster than we normally hear (by lesser ensembles) so, some listeners may feel that the music is not given enough time to breathe, or that it is too fast to comprehend. Enter Dr. Shaw...

Robert Shaw's outstanding account of this requiem has an incredible asset: phrasing unparalleled in any other recording. Under the guidance of the best choral conductor of his time, the Atlanta Symphony Chorus responds to their director's brilliant musicality with aplomb. His superb vocal phrasing transfers well to the strings too. Every phrase has a top and bottom, and he exposes many textures that other conductors do not.

But, Shaw's larger, less agile, and more-distantly miked ensemble do not capture the immediacy that Gardiner's does. Compounded with a slower performance, Shaw's - while breathtakingly beautiful - does not have Gardiner's impact.

So here's my recommendation: purchase Gardiner for the recording quality, tempo, orchestra, perferable choir, and effect. Purchase Shaw for the contemplative setting, outstanding choral phrasing/conducting, and superior soloists. Really, purchase both when you can.

But to feel the true power and effect of Verdi's opera for church, Gardiner's is the one to get.

The synthesis of the orchestra and chorus is near perfect and the tempi are just right. Many times one hears parts of the Mass taken at near neck-break speed and other parts at a near standstill. The depths of the emotional range is astounding - from the thundersou blasts of the Dies Irae to the mournful, languid, rapturous Lacrymosa to the piercing sopranas and warm altos - it is the kind of music that comes along rarely.

The sound is sterling, the acoustics just as clear. I liked the informative accompanying pamphlet with the original (Latin) words along with a translation as opposed to a transliteration. Add this to your collection.

No other recording has such detail, such clarity, such remarkable presence. Phillips should be congratulated. Few other performances have no weak links. All the soloists are excellent, the choir & orchestra superb.

In particular, I cannot find enough superlatives for Luba Orgonasova. It is an endless mystery to me why this soprano is so scarce in the catalogue. In this role, at least, she reigns supreme. Schwarzkopf; Studer; Stader; Sutherland; Scotto - all the "S" sopranos seem to have sung this! - Price; Gheorghiu; Caballe; Freni, the list goes on, NONE of these excel Orgonasova in this part. Verdi made incredible demands on his soprano soloist and the far lesser-known Orgonasova meets those demands better than any in this illustrious company.

The key to her success is that she has a strong chest voice which is properly integrated tonally with her head voice. To understand what I mean, just listen to that crucial part in the Libera Me (Requiem Aeternam), where she floats a high B which is truly pianissimo, followed by the ferocious recapitulation of the Libera Me culminating in the word "terra", which so many sopranos either under-power, or resort to a distortion of tone. Not Orgonasova. This is one phenomenal instrument.

The other aspect of this recording where its quality has the edge over all the competition is in the remarkable integration of Orgonasova and Von Otter's voices in the Recordare & Agnus Dei. No other recording I have heard blends the two parts so perfectly - almost like one singer who can sing in harmony with herself!

For buyers who can afford a few recordings, this may be an excellent complement to a more operatic recording (I would recommend the intermittently-available live 1960 Fricsay - don't confuse with his studio recording) and/or the great Giulini with Schwarzkopf; Ludwig; Gedda; & Ghiaurov, now at mid-price on EMI Great Recordings of the Century. The present recording is full price over two discs; which may deter the budget conscious, but it is well worth it for anyone who cares to know this music intimately, to have its mastery revealed afresh.