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Favourite Requiem Mass?

71K views 228 replies 166 participants last post by  composingmusic 
#1 ·
Rank your top 3 requiem masses. Or just one if you're averse to listening to masses for the dead.

Go go go! :D
 
#2 ·
In order:

Mozart
Brahms
Verdi
 
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#5 · (Edited)
The order depends on what mood I'm in. Usually I don't like the very heavy going requiems, so those in the top two spots below are the ones I listen to the most -

Faure (or maybe Durufle's one?)
C.V. Stanford
Ligeti

& another couple are Cherubini's Requiem in C & Peter Sculthorpe's quite recent one (kind of minimalist, but not Holy Minimalist, a style which to me seems so kind of overdone and predictable now)...
 
#6 · (Edited)
considering it's a 1500 year old style then I guess so, but using instruments to make music is outdated, we have computers nowadays. using pen and paper is outdated, we have sibelius. using hierarchy and structure is outdated, we have serialism. soon, the composer themself will be a thing of the past, as man makes way for machine and serial dubsteb in the style of nancarrow and sorabji begin to be composed at a rate of 5.000.000 works per hour. ain't progress great? wait, what's this? progress and art aren't synonymous? there's no end point of art, art is not teleological, but simply serves the purpose of expression? art is not philosophic, but mere audio, vibrations that affect our moods and thought patterns, enhancing consciousness and life? brilliant!
 
#7 · (Edited)
Britten ~ War requiem -- Britten was atheist - or at the least Agnostic - this mass is missing the 'credo' section (which,dogmatically disqualifies it as liturgical,) and uses the rest of the body of the Latin requiem text along with the poetry of Wilfred Owen.

Robert Moran ~ Requiem: Chant du Cygne -- not a scrap of the mass text (ergo also non-liturgical,) but a few phrases Mozart is reported to have said when dying. Four choirs, four instrumental ensembles, organ; composed for a specific cathedral with a tremendous decay time, the four groups spaced equidistant from the center. Beautiful and moving work!


Stravinsky ~ Requiem Canticles - what the composer called a 'pocket requiem' for its brevity.

[The Ligeti Requiem already mentioned is also gorgeous and quite moving.]
 
#68 ·
Britten ~ War requiem -- Britten was atheist - or at the least Agnostic - this mass is missing the 'credo' section (which,dogmatically disqualifies it as liturgical,) and uses the rest of the body of the Latin requiem text along with the poetry of Wilfred Owen.
Please note that the Credo is not there as it is not part of the text of the Catholic Requiem Mass. It's non-inclusion had nothing to do with Britten's beliefs or non-beliefs.
 
#14 ·
Tough one. Berlioz or Verdi for a bit of the old blood and thunder and Durufle (of which there are three versions) for a more ethereal soundscape. I also like Cherubini's from 1816.
 
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#22 ·
Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem (even though it is technically not a standard requiem mass)
Mozart's Requiem (yes, I know, he didn't finish it, but it is still a fine piece)
Faure
J.C. Bach
Ockeghem
Biber Requiem a 15 in Concerto
 
#23 ·
Not in order of preference:

Faure
Verdi
Brahms

This thread reminds me I must listen to the Ligetti, Cavalli and Britten again soon.

Since it's the Verdi birthday year I've been listening to many versions of this masterpiece. Really enjoying Barenboim's new one with La Scala and his stunning quartet of soloists. Did anyone else catch Muti's stunning live CSO webcast? WOW. Didn't love the soloists (especially the tenor, from Muti's cd recording) but the orchestra and chorus were ON FIRE.
 
#28 ·
Mozart, Faure and Ligeti at the moment, but I still have to listen to Brahms' one yet.

Best regards, Dr
 
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