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Editorial Reviews

The Mozart "Requiem" on this disc was recorded in London in 1967 and the "Masonic Funeral Music" that opens the program three years before that. What the buyer gets, therefore, is certainly big-orchestra Mozart, music that might have made the composer back up and blink a little bit. That said, this reading by conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and the New Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra is one of the best of its type -- intelligently shaped, beautifully executed, and never overdramatized. The slow choral movements, particularly the Kyrie, are taken deliberately and sculpted into distinct layers of sound; the Kyrie resembles a giant's tread, perhaps, but that of a serious giant. The rich sound of soprano Edith Mathis emerges immediately in the Introit as well matched to the overall conception, but the best is yet to come: this disc is worth the purchase price for the vocal quartet movements alone. Sample if possible the "Tuba mirum," track 5. The performance is on the operatic side, and the opening flourish from bass Marius Rintzler is one of several details from which maximum expression is wrung. Yet even if you don't favor this particular way of doing things, the quartet as a whole is hard to resist. The singers are given the space to establish their own personalities, and the two young African-American stars, contralto Grace Bumbry and tenor George Shirley, absolutely shine as the spotlight lands on each one in turn. The sound on the original EMI LP release may well have been spotless, but some background noise has crept in over the several re-releases these performances have been through. Still, this is an excellent golden-age choice for the Mozart "Requiem." James Manheim, All Music Guide

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