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Mozart - Requiem, K.626 - Tolzer Boys Choir, Tafelmusik, Bruno Weil (2000) [FLAC] {Sony}
For those of you who are curious about the Landon edition (used in this recording), it incorporates completions by Eybler and Freystädtler (two contemporaries of Mozart) in the movements which they attempted to complete (mainly in the Sequence), and employs the familiar Süssmayr completions in the remaining incompleted movements. The result is actually not that different from the all-Süssmayr version we usually hear today. Perhaps the most notable difference is that Eybler and Freystädtler show more restraint in using trumpets and drums (unlike Süssmayr, who overuses them), but that is more in keeping with Mozart's practice of reserving those instruments for important structural points.
As for this recorded performance - it is no doubt one of the finest. Weil seems to have an affinity with Mozart and Haydn, particularly the choral works (he has recorded some of Haydn's masses and "The Creation", amongst other things), and it shines through in this recording. Tempi are a little on the brisk side, but they certainly don't bother me (I prefer them to old fashioned Karajan goo). Both the orchestra and chorus are astoundingly clear (all the counterpoint is very audible) yet also intensely expressive. The orchestra has that raw bite of period orchestras (helped by lively articulation). The Tölzer Boys Choir is surprisingly weighty and full, belying the common belief that boys choirs in general are cute but breathy, almost wimpy.
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