The composition of the Requiem is surrounded by anecdotes and legends. Mozart’s student Franz Xaver Süßmayr completed the unfinished work after Mozart’s death. But in musical terms, the work offers far more than mere anecdotes: Mozart’s choral writing, at the height of his art, presents singers with harmonically challenging passages and thrilling fugues. If you master this, there’s great enjoyment to be had from singing the work, despite its subject matter ...
The Carus Choir Coach offers choir singers the unique opportunity to study and learn their own, individual choral parts within the context of the sound of the entire choir and orchestra. For every vocal range a separate Audio CD or MP3 and download containing each choir part is available. The Carus Choir Coach is based on recorded interpretations by renowned artists who have performed the work from carefully prepared Carus Urtext editions. Each choir part is presented in three different versions:
- Original recording
- Coach: each part is accompanied by the piano, with the original recording sounding in the background
- Coach in slow mode: the tempo of the coach slows down to 70% of the original version – through this reduction passages can be learned more effectively.
Performers: Vasiljka Jezovsek (soprano), Claudia Schubert (alto), Marcus Ullmann (tenore), Michael Volle (basso) – Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart – Frieder Bernius.
Also suitable for practicing Howard Arman's version of the Requiem (CV 51.652/00) (except for the Lacrimosa and Fugue).
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Composer
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
| 1756-1791As the son of the deputy Kapellmeister to the Salzburg Prince-Archbishop, Mozart was constantly surrounded by church music in his youth. On his travels Mozart became familiar with Italian church music, and later in Vienna he studied the works of Bach and Handel. After moving to Vienna he was faced with the new challenges of composing opera and piano concertos, and significantly the “C Minor Mass” KV 427, the greatest sacred work of the first Vienna years, remained unfinished. The last period of his life again shows a change of direction to church music: Mozart successfully applied to succeed the terminally ill Leopold Hoffmann as Kapellmeister at St Stephen's Cathedral, but he was unable to take up the position as he died before Hoffmann. A gem such as the “Ave verum” KV 618 and the incomplete Requiem KV 626 give us an idea of what Mozart might have achieved as a composer of sacred music if he had taken up this important position. Personal details
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Arranger
Franz Xaver Süßmayr
| 1766-1803
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Choir
Kammerchor Stuttgart
The Kammerchor Stuttgart is regarded as one of the best ensembles of its kind. Over its fifty-year existence, Frieder Bernius has developed the choir into an exceptional ensemble acclaimed by audiences and press alike. This has led to invitations for the choir to perform at all the important European festivals. In Germany the chamber choir performs at festivals and in concert halls in repertoire ranging from the 17th to the 21st century. Frieder Bernius and his ensemble have received numerous accolades for their contribution to new music. The Kammerchor Stuttgart has made over 80 CDs and LPs, numerous of which have been awarded international recording prizes (including the Edison award, Diapason d’or, Gramophone Choice, Classical Internet Award, International Classical Music Award, and German Record Critics’ Award prizes). The International Federation for Choral Music has invited the ensemble to sing at the 1st, 4th and 10th World Symposia on Choral Music in Vienna, Sydney and Seoul. Regular tours of North America and Asia since 1988 and a South America tour reflect the Kammerchor Stuttgart’s international reputation. Since 1984 the top ensemble has also been invited to Israel biennially. Personal details
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Orchestra
Barockorchester Stuttgart
The Barockorchester Stuttgart, which was founded by Bernius in 1985, specializes in 18th century music. The musicians are among the leading representatives of historical performance practice and perform exclusively on original instruments. The ensemble dedicates itself to a large extent to the revival of 18th century operas. It has performed at numerous international festivals, among others in Rome, Dresden and Göttingen. Personal details
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Conductor
Frieder Bernius
| 1947Frieder Bernius’s work has earned great worldwide recognition. He is in demand internationally as a conductor and as a teacher. His principal artistic collaborators are the ensembles he founded himself, the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Barockorchester Stuttgart, the Hofkapelle Stuttgart and the Klassische Philharmonie Stuttgart. As a guest conductor, he has collaborated repeatedly with, for example, the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester and the Streicherakademie Bozen. Great stylistic versatility is Frieder Bernius’s hallmark. Whether he conducts vocal works by Monteverdi, Bach, Händel, Mozart, Beethoven, Fauré and Ligeti, stage music by Mendelssohn or symphonies by Haydn, Burgmüller and Schubert, his work always aims for a sound that is at once unmistakably personal and at the same time oriented towards the original period sound ideal. He devotes himself equally to the rediscovery of 18th century operas and to first performances of contemporary compositions. He is particularly interested in the musical history of southwestern Germany. Carus-Verlag has awarded Frieder Bernius a Golden CD for his complete recording of the sacred music of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The award was presented to him during the German Choir Festival in Stuttgart 2016. The sale of over 250,000 recordings, which has been acclaimed with a number of awards, has made a not insignificant contribution to what today is the obvious presence of Mendelssohn's complete œuvre in the concert repertoire. Personal details
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Soloist - soprano
Vasiljka Jezovsek
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Soloist - alto
Claudia Schubert
Claudia Schubert began studying singing in 1986 at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt with Elsa Cavelti and participated in master classes with Laura Sarti in London. From 1987 to 1991 she held a scholarship from the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. Since 1987 she has appeared in many important music centers in Europe, in Israel, Japan, Canada and the USA. At renowned festivals for early music she has collaborated with conductors such as Frieder Bernius, Frans Brüggen, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Reinhard Goebel, Ton Koopman, Herrmann Max, and Jordi Savall. Her activities have been augmented with guest appearances at the opera houses in Frankfurt, Brussels and Salzburg. Personal details
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Soloist - tenor
Marcus Ullmann
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Soloist - bass
Michael Volle