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Mozart: Requiem / Exsultate Jubilate
This 1978 reading of Mozart's glorious Requiem has lost none of its luster. Carlo Maria Giulini refuses to approach the work as a romantic blood-and-thunder event (unlike, say Karajan's 1975 account); rather, his approach is classical, devotional, and transparent--time and again one hears the orchestra's inner voices more clearly than usual. This Requiem "sings" like few others, and while it is highly meditative, its drama, from section to section, is never lost. Bass Robert Lloyd is particularly good, coming through with a "Tuba mirum" in which he challenges the sound of the trombone. The other soloists are good. As a bonus, EMI has given us a chirpy, agile performance of Mozart's Exultate Jubilate, with Erika Koth, a light soprano whose repertoire included the Queen of the Night. A fine disc. --Robert Levine