With this surround-sound recording of Berlioz’s Requiem, Edward
Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra tackle the infinite and
the immeasurable.
All the grandiose, striking beauty of the Requiem’s large-scale
ceremonial is encapsulated by first-class vocal and orchestral forces,
fully utilising the spatial possibilities of Grieghallen in Bergen. The
matching of space and sonority was one of Berlioz’s lasting obsessions,
one experience in St Paul’s Cathedral in London throwing Berlioz into a
delirium of emotion from which he took days to recover. His Grande Messe
des morts, notorious for its requirement of four brass bands in
addition to a large orchestra and chorus, taken here from live concerts,
has often been seen as one of the most emotionally powerful works of
its kind.
Setting a solemn and austere, even ascetic text, the music is not
that of an orthodox believer but of a visionary, inspired by the
dramatic implications of death and judgement.
“… it is Gardner’s handling of the quieter movements , with their often
sparse textures and archaic polyphony, that marks his performance as
something special. While taking care never to let the music flag, he
finds a poetry and sensitivity to Berlioz’s often strange musical
language that is deeply moving without ever cloying. It’s a reading
steeped in feeling for the early Romantic soundworld that Berlioz helped
to establish, and Gardner restrains the strings from excessive vibrato
to maximise expressive effect. To sample some of the most exquisite
sounds, try the opening of the ‘Hostias’ or ‘Agnus Dei’… one of the most
thoughtful and compelling accounts of the Grande Messe des morts in the catalogue. A huge achievement!” (Europadisc)
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