Composer: Luigi Cherubini
Performer: Corydon Singers
Orchestra: Corydon Orchestra
Conductor: Matthew Best
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Hyperion
Catalogue: CDA66805
Release: 1996
Size: 189 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Marche Funebre (1820)
Requiem in C minor
02. I. Introit and Kyrie
30. II. Graduale
04. III. Dies irae
05. IVa. Offertorium. Domine Jesu Christe
06. IVb. Offertorium. Hostias
07. V. Sanctus
08. VI. Pie Jesu
09. VII. Agnus Dei
Posterity has a habit of elevating the obscure and neglecting the famous. Thus it is that Cherubini, hailed by Beethoven as ‘the greatest living composer’, is today often forgotten; ‘If I were to write a Requiem, Cherubini’s would be my only model’, Beethoven continued and the work was performed at his funeral in 1827. Schumann’s opinion was that it was ‘without equal in the world’. Berlioz considered that ‘the decrescendo in the Agnus Dei surpasses everything that has ever been written of the kind’. Cherubini was anxious to reflect the spirit as well as the meaning of the text and so, to avoid any unwelcome associations with opera, he decided to dispense altogether with soloists. It is a work of remarkable intensity, full of attractive choral and orchestral writing. The orchestral Marche funbre is no solemn ceremonial but an anguished, grief-stricken death-march: perhaps the work Beethoven had in mind when he described Cherubini as ‘Europe’s foremost dramatic composer’.