Which is the finest recorded Verdi Requiem?

[TheDecameron]

For me it's Giulini's, even if Mr Legge overloaded his tape...

 

[timH]

Ooh good post - can't wait to see the concensus - if there is one

 

[Cheese]

It's hip to say there's only one good one, the Toscanini recording made in the '30s. I believe that first-hand but soundwise it's one of the foggiest and scratchiest recordings ever to survive.

 

[TheDecameron]

Ooh good post - can't wait to see the concensus - if there is one

....well?

 

[sandgrownun]

If you want to focus on the recorded bit, there's the Atlanta / Shaw recording on Telarc.

 

[mjw]

can't answer the question because I'm just a dabbler but my HMV vinyl double of Giulini and the Philharmonia ticks all my boxes (it also ticks in places but not bad for a 30yo item).

 

[graham55]

It all rather depends on what you mean by "finest recorded". Do you mean (a) best performance captured in a recording, or (b) the performance most liked by audiophiles? As you're going for one of Walter Legge's least successful productions, I'm guessing (a).

In which case, I'd urge you to try to hear Ferenc Fricsay's 1954 MONO account, recorded with the Berlin RIAS Symphony Orchestra and Choir, and a decent well-integrated quartet of soloists, in Berlin's Jesus Christus Church. Not the last word in high fidelity, but the performance packs a hell of a punch! Available on a single CD in DGG's 'Originals' series.

It was one of the five CDs that I took to my dealers when auditioning to buy a top-of-the-line Naim system 10 years ago.

Graham

 

[TheDecameron]

I’m working my way through my recordings-

John Eliot Gardiner (just acquired)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00000418W/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Pappano
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002M45I9A/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Giulini (vinyl)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005FVFWHU/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Solti Chicago (vinyl)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01HLDYQIA/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Shaw Atlanta
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000003CUH/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Colin Davis LSO Live
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002FJIER0/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Bychkov Cologne Live
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002WN5X7S/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

Barenboim La Scala Live ( in the post)
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E6K9XWG/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

The first recording (and the only one for many years) in my possession was Giulini on vinyl. Rough technically in places but a beautiful reading. Next Shaw’s Atlanta recording and given his background, the singing (choral and solo) is beautifully shaped.

Colin Davis’s LSO Live SACD might be the poorest of the bunch- Might have been a very good experience if you were in the audience, but the rough edges show through, particularly in the singing. It’s a live concert in the KSO’s season and will have had a fraction of the rehearsal time and preparation and it shows.

Bychkof is fantastic- a live performance but a technically magnificent recording and the singing is first class.

Solti’s 1977 Chicago recording on vinyl was too poor in SQ terms to persist with.

Pappano’s Rome recording really disappointed me initially- due to SQ issues. Much of it is far too quiet and the acoustic is shut in but turning the wick up (carefully to avoid the explosive tutti sections taking the speakers out), reveals a beautifully turned interpretation.

Gardiner is a little too different in style from the concensus. He was tremendous live last week at the Concertgebouw but going to his 90s recording feels odd in the context of those above.

A dvd of Barenboim’s La Scala recording is coming and I’m looking forward to hearing it.

 

[cjyosemite]

I have Giulini on CD & also the version in the 200th anniversary blu-ray "Tutti Verdi" opera set of 28 discs. Slight preference for Giulini but never tire of listening to either.

 

[alanbeeb]

Nikolaus Harnoncourt/VPO might be worth hearing. As a performance it works for me (but I've not listened to many versions) and SQ is excellent.

 

[lordsummit]

I used to like Muti’s recording with Pavarotti, not listened to it for a long time, maybe at the weekend I’ll dig it out.

 

[rough edges]

Another vote for Fricsay's '54 mono recording...

 

[Del monaco]

I seem to remember the Hikox being very well recorded. As to performance. Guilini has a special affinity with the work and his stately, intense performances are compelling. Toscanini is King in my book and always instils and urgency and drama into his performances. His Otello is my all time favourite recording.

 

[TheDecameron]

I keep being drawn back to Bychkof. I heard his Proms performance (with completely different musicians) some years ago and loved it.