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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
For some reason I can't fathom, Dvorak's Requiem is poorly served in the recording studio - a pity since this is such a beautiful work. This 1968 analogue recording is, for me at least, the most satisfying of the 4 or 5 recordings I am aware of from the last half century. Kertesz always had a particular feel for Dvorak and in this reading he has at his disposal the outstanding combination of the London Symphony Orchestra (with whom he recorded the complete symphonies) and the Ambrosian Singers. His choice of soloists is more concerned with who sounds right for the piece than with "superstar" names, perhaps the highest profile soloist being the Finnish baritone Tom Krause. They and the chorus under the expert guidance of John McCarthy provide a deeply moving reading. The tempi are beautifully judged, neither too ponderous nor apparently inspired by a Formula 1 Grand Prix! The singing is clear, every phrase beautifully articulated and the recording is well up to the sort of standard music lovers have always expected of Decca - and with good reason.
As a very useful filler, this is coupled with Simon Preston's 1974 account of the Mass in D, performed in its original form accompanied by organ rather than its later orchestrated version. This too, is beautifully performed with a delightfully balanced sound and near-perfect CD transfer.
All in all a deeply satisfying reading, now made even more attractive by its budget price. For me, easily the most outstanding of the limited selection of recordings available.
As a very useful filler, this is coupled with Simon Preston's 1974 account of the Mass in D, performed in its original form accompanied by organ rather than its later orchestrated version. This too, is beautifully performed with a delightfully balanced sound and near-perfect CD transfer.
All in all a deeply satisfying reading, now made even more attractive by its budget price. For me, easily the most outstanding of the limited selection of recordings available.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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8 reviews
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Great and underrated work; top-notch performance/recording
7 Sep 2001
Format:Audio CD
Dvorak's Requiem should be as well-known as those of Verdi, Brahms, Berlioz, and Mozart. Though it is not as tuneful as the Verdi, it is powerful, lyrical, and dramatic.
This recording came out on LP in the early '70s and has been hailed as the definitive one almost since it appeared. The sound is superb, and the newcomer to this music, on hearing this, is bound to wonder why this piece is not better-known. I wonder why every time I hear it.
I find that the competing version on DGG with Czech forces under Ancerl is more intense; see my review of that one--and other equally enthusiastic reviews of the Ancerl--on this site. I have no idea whether that is because it is by Czech orchestral and choral forces (and German soloists), or because the performers simply sound as if they are literally pleading for salvation. (Kertesz was something of a specialist in Czech music himself and was a rising star in the classical music world until his death in what has occasionally been described as a mysterious drowning incident off the coast of Israel in 1973.)
But if you want the equally attractive coupling of this set--a small scale setting of the Dvorak Mass in D, with a first-rate English cathedral choir, I would say go ahead and get this one. And hurry--both may be disappearing from availability, and that, with the proliferation of recordings of the requiems by Verdi, Brahms, Berlioz, and Mozart, as well as others, is a shame.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Kertesz and his forces perform admirably.
29 Jan 1999
Format:Audio CD
London's double CD packages two of Dvorak's greatest choral works, his Requiem (op.89) and his Mass in D (op.86). In these two recordings, which were recorded in 1968 and 1974, respectively, Istvan Kertesz conducts both the LSO and The Ambrosian Singers. The product of their collaboration is excellent--particularly the Mass, although the Requiem is quite beautifully done as well. London's engineers have done an admirable job of eliminating hiss, and the singing on each piece is impassioned and moving--but without bordering on the employment of excessive interpretive license. Particularly noteworthy are the Kyrie from Mass in D and Requiem's Dies Irae--the former because of its sublime beauty; the latter due to its awe-inspiring beginning and fine use of the orchestra as both a reflection of and contrast to the choral parts.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Not bad, not bad
27 Dec 2004
Format:Audio CD
I prefer this coupling of the Requiem with the Mass in D, than the other Kertesz's Requiem releases.
Dvorak's choral music deserves to be as well known as Beethoven's, especially his Masterpeice...the Requiem.
Kertesz does a good job with it, and Cleobury too with the Mass, but if you want to "live" an experience of the Requiem, then you just have to listen to the Ancerl on DG!
Dvorak's choral music deserves to be as well known as Beethoven's, especially his Masterpeice...the Requiem.
Kertesz does a good job with it, and Cleobury too with the Mass, but if you want to "live" an experience of the Requiem, then you just have to listen to the Ancerl on DG!
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