|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
192.104.254.70
Looking for a good recording of Verdi's Requiem. Good choral and soloist but more interested in the orchestral quality. Let me know who your favorites are and why? TY...Scott
Follow Ups:
There are several excellent DVD versions by Abbado, Bernstein, Von Karajan, etc. with great sound, and some are even priced cheaper than the CD versions. If you want to sample the Abbado and Von Karajan versions, try the following selections from YouTube:
...Lucine Amara,Maureen Forrester, Richard Tucker, George London, The Westminster Choir. The sound is fabulous on both...a little more transparent on SACD and a little more voluptuous in the voices on the tape, but gorgeous on both.Sony stereo SACD - SS707
Columbia 7.5ips Stereo Tape - M2S 707Here a blurb from the tape album:
"As part of the musical festivities given in Philharmonic Hall to celebrate the New York World's Fair, Eugene Ormandy led the Philadelphi Orchestra in an inspired performance of Verdi's Requiem. The performance, greeted with critical acclaim, was then recorded by Mr. Ormandy under ideal acoustical conditions in New York's Manhattan Center."
Harry
Best Orchestral performance and sound: Barenboim with the Chicago. I'm rarely a Barenboim fan, but there were some standouts in Chicago, the Verdi Requiem, (with a fatal vocal problem, but more on that later), and his Lutoslawski. Great Erato sound--a little up close, but sumptuous with great dynamics and bass.Anyway, I've heard all the Requiems, (except bootleg), and this is the most sensitively-performed, but also the most dramatically played. Wait until you hear those trumpets in the Dies Irae. Barenboim also uncovers some nice felicities others miss. The only problem is that the Soprano is a little flat on her very quiet floated high B, Bb before the final choral conclusion. Trust me on this one otherwise: if you want the best and most urgent orchestral performance in great sound, it's the one to get. I'll bet you can find one used at Amazon for pennies.
I'm going to check out several of these recordings for various reasons. First, I'm a trumpet player, and though the amout of brass parts are not voluminous, they are nothing less than spectacular to play. Second, the combination of orchesta, chorus and soloists together are nearly overpowering from both a sound and emotional standpoint. Third, I was lucky enough to be part of a live recording of this work and simply can't get enough of it! The excitement level is high enough during a performance, and then add to that the element of a live recording and just about sends one over the top. I am anxious to do some comparisons of various conductors and soloists interpretations. Thanks to all who have responded for your input...it is always greatly appreciated.
One of the greatest orchestral piano parts in the literature, but, you know there are great off-stage parts for 7 trumpets and two trombones? If you liked the extra brass in the Requiem, I hope you know Pines, though you probably do.
http://www.classicistranieri.com/dblog/articolo.asp?articolo=6078
nt
I have five versions.For orchestral and choral sound quality, I would recommend Robert Shaw's Telarc recording.
For a reverent and devotional interpretation with great soloists and chorus, I would recommend Giulini's EMI remastered 1960's recording with Schwarzkokpf, Ludwig, Gedda and Ghiaurov. The sound quality is rather harsh on some very loud passages, but otherwise very good.
For a live performance, I would recommend Toscanini's Music and Arts recording of a broadcast from Carnegie Hall in the 1940's with the great tenor, Jussi Bjorling.
My favorite is a Seraphim recording with Ezio Pinza, Beniamino Gigli, Elba Stagnani and Nadia Caniglia. Unfortunately, I only have this classic on tape which I transcribed from 78rpm records some years ago. I believe it was remastered on to CDs, but is priced at over $100. Pinza and Gigli were superb - the best I ever heard in the bass and tenor parts.
One I would not recommend is the Valery Gerviev version with Bocelli as tenor, The other soloists, Fleming, Borodina and D'Archangelo are good, but Bocelli is very much out of his element.
I have this on LP and the solos excellent with Maria Caniglia, Ebe Stignani, Beniamino Gigli, and Ezio Pinza, though the sound is not great, though OK for 1939.Reiner's London recording also has an excellent solo quartet: Leontine Price, Rosalind Elias, Jussi Bjoerling, and Giorgio Tozzi.
____________________________________________________
"Opposition brings concord. Out of discord comes the fairest harmony."
------Heraclitus of Ephesis (fl. 504-500 BC), trans. Wheelwright.
- http://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Requiem-Ezio-Pinza/dp/B000000WPN/ref=sr_1_14/102-6312748-9244906?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1176603082&sr=1-14 (Open in New Window)
I've been looking for this one for years at an affordable price.Thanks,
Bernstein. Digital Sony remaster has great sound, better than original Columbia LP. Superb orchestral sound; the bass drum in Dies Irae is a test for good subwoofer. Killer soloist cast: Arroyo, Veasey, Domingo, Raymondi. My reference recording.Reiner, on RCA Living Stereo. I am not sure there is a CD or SACD reissue. I like it as much as Bernstein, but Bernstein is the first love...
Superb in every way.
The best performance ever recorded is the one on EMI conducted by Giulini and featuring Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Gedda, and Ghiaurov. Unfortunately the sound is not very good. The best performance I know of with good sound is the Telarc with the Atlanta Symphony conducted by Shaw.
Four incontrovertible arguments to buy this Giulini EMI version: Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Gedda, Ghiaurov. Transcendent. I don't think Schwarzkopf and Ludwig have ever been more sublime on record, and that's daring to say quite a lot.And if you order the newly remastered Japanese EMI/Toshiba version, the sound will be audibly better than in the frustrating EMI GROC issue (you can get it from amazon.jp or hmv.co.jp). There's not so much noise filtering used, which really makes a difference. And it's cheaper, too.
Of the digital recordings, the earlier one of Abbado's two takes (for DG, with Studer, Lipovsek, Carreras, Raimondi) comes closest. But that's still a distance. Many critics liked his second one quite a lot, too (with Gheorghiu and Alagna, for EMI). I wouldn't bother about the rest.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: