There are many challenges to recording a large-scale work with chorus and orchestra in a vast, domed building like St Paul’s Cathedral in London. So, predictably, the sound is distant and echoey, with edges as blurred as on a watercolour painting in this new release on the LSO Live label.
That’s too bad, because this is an expertly shaped performance by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus as well as the London Philharmonic Choir by the masterful Sir Colin Davis.
He errs on the side of slowness in deploying Berlioz’s grand scheme, presumably because of the recording space. It makes the music feel unnecessarily ponderous, but it does highlight the classical counterpoint that underpins so much of the Requiem, despite it being an emblem of the Romantic spirit.
Operatic tenor Barry Banks very ably steps into the difficult solo parts in the Sanctus, near the end of the Requiem, but he sounds as if he’s singing in another room.
You can find the details, as well as a couple of audio samples, here. This is a promotional clip made by the London Symphony during the performance:
John Terauds