Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem. Pygmalion / Raphaël Pichon. © 2024 Harmonia Mundi Musique sas

Spotlight

A Sweeping Experience

GERALD FENECH listens to Raphaël Pichon's striking new version of Mozart's Requiem

'... overflowing with a shimmering musical light that sows joy and hope for the transcendent.'

 

This version of Mozart's Requiem might surprise many because conductor Raphaël Pinchon inserted other pieces by the composer that were never included in other performing versions. People will ask why? The original version can hold its own without any additions to embellish it.

Listen — Mozart / Süssmayr: Communio (Requiem in D minor)
(HMM902729 track 21, 0:01-0:58) ℗ 2024 Harmonia Mundi Musique SAS :

Well, here is what Pinchon has to say, translated by Charles Johnston :

I wanted to draw together the threads of this interplay of memories, this journey through time rather than pursue the impossible quest of completing the score ... Within the Requiem itself, in a sometimes disorientating series of mirror effects, a dialogue is established with memories of several rarely heard pieces that punctuated Mozart's personal history.

Listen — Mozart, orchestrated by Vincent Manac’h: O Gottes Lamm, K 343/1
(HMM902729 track 19, 0:01-0:43) ℗ 2024 Harmonia Mundi Musique SAS :

I have heard many fine versions of this monumental masterpiece so I was slightly wary approaching this wholly new creation as visualized by Maestro Pinchon. What a sweeping experience I found myself in.

Listen — Mozart: Ne pulvis et cinis, K 122
(HMM902729 track 6, 0:01-0:59) ℗ 2024 Harmonia Mundi Musique SAS :

Absolute beauty, overflowing with a shimmering musical light that sows joy and hope for the transcendent. Forget that you already have this Requiem in your collection. Go and get this issue without teetering any further, and immerse yourself in the experience of what is to come.

Copyright © 23 August 2024 Gerald Fenech,
Gzira, Malta

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The background image on this page has been derived from a 22 August 2024 photo by Keith Bramich of Salzburg in Austria.

 

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