August 1999

Cecilia Bartoli and Bryn Terfel

"IN PARADISUM" Fauré Requiem, op. 48; Duruflé Requiem, op. 9. Coro e Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, M. Chung Texts and translations. DG 289 459 365-2

Selections from these two Requiems, recorded in Rome in June 1998, were previously released as part of the compilation disc "Hymn for the World 2" (also known as "Voices from Heaven"). Heard now in the context of an integrated musical interpretation rather than as turns on a spiritual vaudeville program, solos by Cecilia Bartoli and Bryn Terfel register with their intended power. Bartoli's modest manner is affecting in the Fauré "Pie Jesu," but the mezzo seems more comfortable in Duruflé's edgier setting of the same text, striking a vividly personal note of mourning. Terfel is in splendid form, his crisp, unsentimental contribution to the Fauré nicely paced by Myung-Whun Chung.

- F.P.D.