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Posted by Martin Walker on May 14, 2007, 1:08 pm
213.36.148.30
I can't quite agree with Göran Forsling's assessment of Verdi Requiem performances from the viewpoint of timing. It is true that the Toscanini performance is, of those he mentions, the swiftest; that does not exactly make Toscanini the "extreme" however, since Serafin, who has not the same "driven" reputation as T., takes 7'46' for the Requiem & Kyrie and 4'24" for the Agnus Dei, for example, thus easily equalling T. in the speed stakes. T., by the way, takes about 8'20" for the R&K in his infinitely preferable 1940 version with Björling et al. - since this is available in a reportedly superb transfer on M&A (I only have it on LPs, which is why I have only given one timing, which I have just ascertained), it would seem to be the best way of getting a great Toscanini performance of the Requiem (almost any T. performance from the mid-30s to mid-40s beats later recordings of the same works). Other conductors are no slouches, either - Fricsay's 1954 recording takes 8'22" for R&K, 4'22" for the AD, and his Confutatis at 4'54" beats anyone. Of course this has all nothing to do with the artistic niveau of a performance, as Göran indicates, but it does suggest that there is more choice, even between "extremes", than is indicated in the review; certainly I would much prefer the Fricsay, artistically and sonically, to Toscanini '51 for a dramatic yet spiritually intense performance. And there is another de Sabata recording, slightly earlier, which is reputed to have the best singing & performance overall - perhaps another reader can tell us something about this? The performance under consideration in the review is, I think all agree, simply wonderful, anyway.
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