Robert King: The King's Consort - Haydn (M): Requiem

The King�s Consort�s latest foray into the studio brings us a thrilling new recording of Michael Haydn�s Requiem, and reveals the little-known �St Ursula� Mass to be a truly exceptional work.The Requiem was composed in response to tragedy, the death of Haydn�s patron�the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg�providing the official cloak for an outpouring of grief as much inspired by the death of the composer�s infant daughter. In itself the work is a memorable and confident example of the genre, but its deserved fame has been somewhat eclipsed by the many striking similarities between the Haydn and Mozart Requiems; when Wolfgang Amadeus composed what was to be his last�and most famous�work a full twenty years after Haydn�s memorial to the archbishop had been first performed, he doubtless intended it as the highest of praise to his friend that he borrowed melodies, rhythms, scoring, structure � Such points of musicological interest must no longer be allowed to obscure the worth of the Haydn�s original magnum opus.Some three dozen Mass-settings by Michael Haydn survive. The Missa in honorem Sanctae Ursula (also known as the �Chiemsee-Messe�) currently rests in relative obscurity, being performed rarely and hardly touched in the recording studio. And yet Robert King, his choir, soloists and orchestra here demonstrate this to be a work of great beauty and intense power, with a place both in the liturgy and as a showcase for excellent performances.