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From: greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: Re: Inspirational/Moving music poll
Message-ID: <314@olivee.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 8-Apr-85 11:49:59 EST
Article-I.D.: olivee.314
Posted: Mon Apr  8 11:49:59 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Apr-85 04:42:41 EST
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> 
> 	To move a little away from the best/worst music, etc. I would like
> to hear from people about the classical pieces that reallly "get ya right there".
> 
	...

> 	For example, Mozart's requiem (even though it's been termed 'top 40')
> is extremely effective in both ways. But I think this is an exception. Let me
> hear recommendations for either or both categories.

	Since I'm doing the tenor solos in an upcoming choir performance
of the Mozart "Requiem" I've had to get close to this music.  Beautiful
and moving as it is, it falls short for my tastes of the "get ya right
there" quality of the Verdi "Requiem".  

	It might well be that primary exposure to a "Requiem" setting
has a way of "imprinting" itself.  Since it was the Verdi that I first
heard, when I was in high school, I find many of the sections of the
text automatically associated in my mind with his setting.  Perhaps
I would have felt that way about the Mozart, Berlioz, or even Faure
if I had heard them first.  As it is, I love all of these, but still
find something special and awesome about the Verdi.

	It isn't just the heaven-storm passages, like the opening of
the "Dies Irae" and the subsequent "Tuba Mirum", although I know of
no more viscerally spectacular music (or better stereo showpieces if
you've got the equipment), that grab me.  There is the stentorian
grandeur of the mezzo-soprano's "Liber scriptus", the sustained
beauty of the "Recordare" trio whose ethereal soft (solo soprano)
ending directly confronts the massive bass chorus at the beginning
of the "Rex Tremendae" which, in turn, gives way to and then accompanies
the solo voices arching upward in the "Salva Me", building powerfully
stepwise to the soprano's high C.  Also interesting in this setting
is the way he chose to do the "Sanctus" - all swiftness, light and
joy as opposed to the sustained solemnity chosen by other composers.

	Other passages that I find uniquely impressive are the
quiet awe of the bass solo "Mors stupebit", the paintive beauty
of the tenor solo "Ingemisco" (unfortunately, rarely sung with
the sensitivity it needs), and the final tremendous solo "scena"
for soprano and chorus, "Libera me" (as demanding as anything
in "Aida" or "Forza" for the soprano).

	Incidentally, I, for one, would be appreciative if
people posting their "get ya right there" selections would 
recommend a recording, if they know of a good one.  Although
there are many, many recordings of the Verdi "Requiem", I
find most of them fatally flawed by either poor, or misguided,
shaping by the conductor or poor singing.  For this reason,
I can't recommend the recordings by such prominent
conductors as Reiner, Muti, De Sabata, Barbirolli (despite
wonderful soloists), Mehta and Bernstein.  The Abbado recording
is beautifully shaped but suffers from poor singing by all but
the tenor soloist.  This restricts my choice to the Toscanini
as the best overall performance, which will be dismissed by many
on the basis of sound quality, with the 1963 Giulini and the
1969 Solti/Vienna Philharmonic (NOT his later remake with the
Chicago Symphony) as the most satisfactory alternatives.

	The Solti, incidentally, is a Culshaw production which
demonstrates analogue recording at its best - tremendous depth
and ambience, dynamic range and clarity.  Sutherland is a
particular surprise - although she reverts to "mumble mouth"
diction at the beginning of the "Libera Me", the power and
accuracy of her voice in the other sections make great effect.
Horne sings superbly, Talvela well and powerfully, and
Pavarotti's voice did not then have the rasp it has since
taken on.  This has also been issued on CD by London, but I
haven't heard it in that format.

	- Greg Paley