Best recoding of Mozart's Requiem

thanks lads .. I heard it on TV about a year ago and again on the 11th and it sends chills up my spine !

thanks for the recommendations and details...

Matt

For those interested in alternative versions of the Requiem like the Maunder; the new version by Harvard professor and very fine pianist Robert Levin, recorded by the Boston Baroque, is very good. I've performed it as well, with Dr. Levin in attendance.

If you have seen a pianist Robert Levin on CDs of Mozart Piano Concertos, it is the same person. Dr. Levin improvises all the cadenzas on the spot when he plays Mozart, unlike most artists who just play a cadenza already written down. He is fun in concert, because you can go to every performance and rehearsal, and every time the cadenzas are different. Quite a creative guy!

A second vote for the Schreier/Philips recording--the soloists are excellent, as is the choral work--that's the one I listen to for pleasure and to brush up on my part when my choir sings it. The new SACD with the Netherlands Bach ensemble is also quite good, but definitely lacks the fire of the Schreier version--a more leisurely pace, maybe a bit more introspective, and definitely a different version than the traditional Sussmayr version in certain spots.

Hello Matt, this might be off the topic but you might want to watch the movie called AMADEUS. A dramatic preformance, The Mozart Requiem scenes is ...Well, watch the movie ! I think that everyone into classical music should see this movie. The music was also presented by Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner conducting, if I remember, correctly.

PS. It will sound beautifully on your HT system. That I know for sure :-) I wonder if they made it into DVD, yet ?

I don't know whether it is "the best" or anywhere near that mythical level, but the one I have is by the Choeurs et Orchestre de Paris under Daniel Barenboim, with Kathleen Battle, Ann Muray, David Rendall and Matti Salminen EMI CDC 7473422. It sounds good to me, but then what do I know, I have no other point of reference. Wonder what the previous posters think of this recording?