Description

ATMA Classique is reissuing one of Les Violons du Roy’s seminal discs: the orchestra’s recording of Mozart’s Requiem as revised and completed by Robert D. Levin. The soloists are Karina Gauvin, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, John Tessier, and Nathan Berg. Bernard Labadie conducts Les Violons du Roy and the choir of La Chapelle de Québec. This recording was originally released on the Dorian label in 2002, and won the JUNO® Award for Best Classical Album of the year in the vocal or choral performance category. This recording of Mozart’s Requiem is especially poignant, as it was made in Troy, New York in the week following the September 11 attacks in 2001. The recording captures the emotion and immediacy of that special performance, which was later featured on CBC Television’s Opening Night. The Globe & Mail wrote about “an appreciation of the transcendent aspects of the Requiem as a work of art that is about death, survival and the possibility of an afterlife. There is the magnificence of the music, so often used to solemnly mark terrible tragedy and bring solace.”

Describing his approach to revising and completing Mozart’s score, Robert D. Levin wrote, “Mozart’s unfinished Requiem presents a breathtaking tableau of Baroque and Classical style. The present completion seeks a stylistically idiomatic restoration that fully respects its 200-year history. All of its changes seek to emphasize the spiritual and dramatic power of Mozart’s fragment by placing it in a more focused light. As inadequate as such attempts must be, it is hoped that it will serve Mozart’s spirit while honoring his craftsmanship.”