Naïve has assembled an eclectic assortment of movements from requiems or requiem-like pieces, performed by a variety of ensembles. It's not a sampler, because not all the selections are from the catalog of Naïve or its subsidiaries. It's a somewhat odd mix of pieces, ranging from the traditional Eastern Orthodox service to a 1998 piece by Pascal Dusapin, performed by ensembles with widely varying levels of expertise, so it's hard to know exactly who the target audience is intended to be. There's no attempt to order the movements into a composite requiem mass -- the selections are something of a hodgepodge. The pieces are all at least proficiently performed, and some of the performances are very fine. The most interesting performances are of the less familiar repertoire, such as the Sanctus of Eustace du Caurroy, Hasse's Agnus Dei, Biber's Sanctus, Saint-Saëns' Agnus Dei, and Introit from Dusapin's Dona eis. The most familiar, most frequently recorded pieces are generally not represented in the most outstanding versions. Accentus, led by Laurence Equilbey, performs Denn alles Fleisch, from Ein Deutsches Requiem, in the version for two pianos, and this, of all the movements, is absolutely the least effective in this arrangement, so the impact of the music is diluted in spite of the fine singing. (On the other hand, Accentus' performance of the Dusapin is genuinely haunting.) Other pieces suffer from being merely good provincial performances, such as the excerpts from the Mozart and Berlioz Requiems. The album closes with its only non-choral selection, Ravel's "Kaddisch," for voice and piano, powerfully and movingly sung by baritone Bernard Kruysen. The overall sound quality is good and surprisingly consistent from track to track.