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Simon Mayr: Requiem

Mayr / Thornhill / Simon Mayr Chorus & Ensemble Release Date: 12/11/2015
Label: Naxos Catalog #: 8573419-20 Spars Code: DDD
Composer:  Simon Mayr Performer:  Brigitte Thoma ,  Markus Schäfer ,  Siri Karoline Thornhill ,  Martin Berner  ...  Conductor:  Franz Hauk Orchestra/Ensemble:  Simon Mayr Ensemble Number of Discs: 2
Recorded in: Stereo Length: 1 Hours 56 Mins.

Admired for his fusion of German and Italianate musical elements, Johann Simon Mayr is increasingly recognised as one of the most intriguing and influential composers of his time. His Requiem in G minor is shrouded in compositional obscurity but it is clear that the published version is surpassed both in scale and instrumentation by the elaborate edition performed here, which has been assembled from the autograph manuscripts. Small sections were composed by Donizetti and then corrected by his teacher, Mayr. Church style and more Romanticised elements are finely balanced in this important example of Mayr’s compositional language.

"I took Mayr's music to my heart and am fully convinced that I will return to this work many Read more times in the future for its freshness, its charm and its warmth; the latter characteristic not unimportant for a mass for the dead...Mayr’s melodic inventiveness is remarkably consistent and there is great power in the choral passages....There is so much care, love and commitment behind this production."

-- Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International [4/2016]

"What is genuinely cheering about the set is the affection that Franz Hauk and his mainly Bavarian forces clearly have for the music of their fellow countryman. The performance has style and panache, and the recording is first-rate."

-- Gramophone [2/2016]

"This Requiem is a work on a grand scale…and features some exceptionally fine vocal writing. …What is most interesting here, however, is how exceptionally clearly this work shows the transitional nature of Mayr’s style. The Kyrie eleison/Christe eleison has all the makings of bel canto material, with lovely flow and the requisite vocal acrobatics (although not too many, this being, after all, a mass for the dead)."

-- Infodad.com [12/2015]

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