Requiem (Grande Messe des morts), for tenor, chorus & orchestra, H. 75 (Op. 5)
Symphonie funèbre et triomphale, for band, strings & chorus ad lib, H. 80 (Op. 15)
Among Sir Colin Davis' great Berlioz albums, his 1969 recording in Westminster Cathedral of the Requiem, Op. 5, with the London Symphony and Chorus must be considered one of the most powerful in its physical impact, compelling in its wide range of expressions, and moving in its spiritual austerity -- in short, as satisfying a version as Berlioz ever could have wished for this imposing masterpiece. Of course, the spectacular high points of this "Grand Messe des morts" are sure to draw the most attention, and few listeners ...
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Among Sir Colin Davis' great Berlioz albums, his 1969 recording in Westminster Cathedral of the Requiem, Op. 5, with the London Symphony and Chorus must be considered one of the most powerful in its physical impact, compelling in its wide range of expressions, and moving in its spiritual austerity -- in short, as satisfying a version as Berlioz ever could have wished for this imposing masterpiece. Of course, the spectacular high points of this "Grand Messe des morts" are sure to draw the most attention, and few listeners will be disappointed by the cataclysmic sonorities in the "Tuba mirum" (performed with four brass ensembles and eight sets of timpani, augmenting the expanded orchestra and choir) and in the only slightly less apocalyptic "Rex tremendae" and "Lacrymosa." But it's in the quiet, penitential moments where the Requiem is most spellbinding and affecting, and Davis draws subtle and highly expressive lines of counterpoint in the choral parts, in many places a cappella or with the barest of...
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