Mozart Requiem: The Portuguese Historical Score
Americantiga Ensemble, Ricardo Bernardes
Americantiga AAE2601. 45′
As the 2020 Covid lockdowns started, I reviewed a livestreamed concert from Portugal that a cellist friend of mine was playing in. You can read that review here, That concert, given by the Americantiga Ensemble under the local Covid restrictions of the time (which allowed a maximum of 10 people and no audience), included the première of an anonymous early 19th-century version of Mozart’s Requiem based on a manuscript found in the Cathedral of Évora. That included the vocal text of Mozart’s original, but required just four singers and a completely different chamber-style accompaniment based on basso continuo instruments (cello, two bassoons, double bass, and organ) – the cello part (played by Pedro Massarrão) is particularly prominent. They have now realised a world premiere recording of that Requiem, as part of the 30th anniversary of the Americantiga Ensemble.
Andrew Benson-Wilson : Early Music Reviews + 