The Cherubini Requiem recorded here is the second of the composer's two masses for the dead. It was written in 1834, shortly before the composer's death, and it was played at his funeral. Written for male chorus and orchestra, it's a remarkable work that occupies a very rare psychological space -- it is subdued, suffused with a full knowledge of approaching death, and filled with refined sadness rather than religious calm. The work isn't often heard, and the Messa Solenne Breve in B flat major that rounds out the disc has apparently never been recorded before. This disc on Germany's Classico label does not really solve the Requiem's thorny problems of dynamic range; most of the work is very quiet, but when Cherubini comes to the Dies Irae he cuts loose with trumpets in a relentless vision of final judgment that matches anything in the more famous requiem masses by Mozart, Berlioz, and Verdi. As recorded here, the Dies Irae will make you jump out of your seat. Maybe that is, as computer people say, a feature rather than a bug, but a more expansive treatment of the movement would have complemented the splendidly calm sound achieved by the Hradec Králové Male Choir and Czech Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra under Douglas Bostock. The choir gets the work's unusual combination of solemnity and vocal tension. There are no soloists, and the choral writing is difficult in spots, but even some deadly high, quiet tenor parts sound good. On the Messa Solenne Breve the Hradec Králové Male Choir is joined by a boys' choir, Bonifantes, and the overall sound is less distinctive. The work, like Cherubini's other choral music, seems to call for women. The disc is worth investigating, however, for the Requiem in D minor alone.
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