Cherubini Requiem in C minor:( Malcolm Sargent??), Roger Wagner Chorale

(There seems to be some controversy about the attribution of Malcolm Sargent as the conductor of this recording. I am not in a position to definitively decide the issue, though the evidence for excluding Sargent at this point seems compelling. For the present I will simply put the attribution in the title of the post in parenthesis with question marks, and leave it to the reader to decide the issue based on the comments quite far down on the list, below. Thanks for your forbearance.)

Here at last is the Cherubini Requiem in C minor that I mentioned quite some time ago I would be posting. This one is for my old friend, Jerry Parker, a Cherubini expert who provided the LP for me.

Though issued originally on Capital Records with Roger Wagner listed as the conductor, a later LP release on Angel gave more accurate attributions and named Malcolm Sargent as the real leader of this performance. In his review on Amazon Jerry writes:

"Roger Wagner probably was merely the very fine chorus master for Sargent, who conducts with the kind of terrific power and expertise that have made Sir malcom Sargent's various recordings of oratorios so highly celebrated." (The full review, offering a handy overview of the recorded history of the work, can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/Cherubini-Requiem-Chorale-Philharmonic-Orchestra/dp/B001LEY7DA/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

In recent recordings of the work the wonderful and terrifying Marche funebre, meant to precede the Mass itself, has been included, as well as the "In Paradisum" from the rite for the burial service. Both of these are omitted on the present record, but a good mp3 of them can be downloaded if you care to hear them, or to add them to a CD. The recording by Chistoph Sperling can be found here: http://www.classicsonline.com/catalogue/product.aspx?pid=858986 and is highly recommended. The individual tracks can be downloaded.

The work was written after the restoration of the French monarchy to commemorate the execution by guillotine of King Louis XVI. In listening to the ferocity of some of the music, one is not surprised to learn that Cherubini was forced to play in bands that accompanied many beheadings. The gongs in both the Marche funebre and Dies Irae suggest the terrifying blade at least as forcefully as the slashing blade strokes of the guillotine in Dialogs of the Carmelites, and point to the abject terror inspired by final judgement in many guises.

I hope you enjoy this great and too often neglected masterpiece.

Link to all files