Digital Only Early Release in Stereo, 5 Channel Surround Sound & Dolby Atmos HD at NativeDSD!
A deeply personal interpretation from Manfred Honeck & the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra with F. Murray Abraham as narrator
Reference Recordings proudly presents the beloved Requiem of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in a very special interpretation. Academy Award and Golden-Globe-winning film and Broadway star F. Murray Abraham joins Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for Honeck’s dramatic conception of “Requiem: Mozart’s Death in Words and Music.” Over a decade ago, Honeck contemporized Mozart’s epic masterpiece by incorporating text into the score. F. Murray Abraham, Manfred Honeck, and the Orchestra previously performed “Requiem: Mozart’s Death in Words and Music” at Heinz Hall in 2012 and at Carnegie Hall in 2014.
This album was recorded live in 2023 in beautiful and historic Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra by the team at Sound Mirror in Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD and DXD plus 5.1.4 Channel Immersive Dolby Atmos TrueHD from the Edit Master Source. Maestro Honeck honors us again with his peerless music notes, in which he gives us great insight into his musical interpretation of Mozart’s final, iconic work.
Known for a wide range of roles on stage and screen, the highly acclaimed F. Murray Abraham won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Italian composer Antonio Salieri in the film Amadeus, which fictionalized a relationship between Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and featured the music of Mozart on the soundtrack. Abraham starred in the critically acclaimed series Homeland, for which he received two Emmy nominations. Abraham recently starred in the HBO hit television series The White Lotus as “Bert,” for which he received a Golden Globe nomination.
“We are so thrilled that the exceptional artist F. Murray Abraham will return to Pittsburgh to collaborate again with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony on what promises to be an extraordinary concert weekend,” said Melia Tourangeau, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. “Manfred Honeck’s interpretation of Mozart’s Requiem is a very special one that includes traditional Austrian death bells, Gregorian chant, and conveys both solace and hope.”
F. Murray Abraham, Narrator
Jeanine De Bique, Soprano
Catriona Morison, Mezzo-Soprano
Ben Bliss, Tenor
Tareq Nazmi, Bass
Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh
Tenors & Basses of the Westminster Choir
James Jordan, Conductor of Westminster Choir
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Manfred Honeck, Conductor & Music Director
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 00:59:59
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | FR761 |
| Qualities | MKV 48 kHz, DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 32 Bit, DXD 24 Bit, WAV 192 kHz, WAV 96 kHz |
| Channels | 5.1.4ch Dolby Atmos, 5ch Surround, 2ch Stereo, 2ch Stereo & 5ch Surround |
| Artists | Ben Bliss, Catriona Morison, F. Murray Abraham, James Jordan, Jeanine De Bique, Manfred Honeck, Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Tareq Nazmi, Tenors & Basses of the Westminster Choir |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Conductors | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Instruments | |
| Recording Engineer | Mark Donahue |
| Recording Location | Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Producer | Dirk Sobotka, Sound Mirror |
| Mastering Engineer | Mark Donahue, Sound Mirror |
| Analog to Digital Converter | Horus, Merging Technologies at DXD 24 Bit |
| Release Date | August 29, 2025 |
Press reviews
Mundo Clasico
Under the baton of Manfred Honeck the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra offers an extraordinary and deep interpretation of one of the great works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the unfinished Requiem, tragically turned into the requiem of the great composer.
F. Murray Abraham, winner of an Oscar and a Golden Globe for the film Amadeus, joins Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for this dramatic conception of Requiem: Mozart’s death in lyrics and music. He delivers moving fragments of the Apocalypse, as well as a letter directed by Mozart to his father in April 1787, describing his peace with death, which contextualizes the music that he would finally compose for the Requiem.
This is an enriched version, with the addition of several other pieces, in a meditation on the death of Mozart that Honeck assembled from the Requiem and other religious compositions, Austrian funeral traditions, selected readings and Gregorian song.
Of course, Amadeus is fiction, but as in any solid biopic, this fiction is not fully invented. Mozart’s Requiem is pure mystery, no other work of classical music is as wrapped in gloomy legends as Wolfgang Mozart’s swan song. This new project by Master Honeck around the last and unfinished masterpiece of Mozart is very welcome.
The juxtapositions between texts and music reveal the acute dramatic sense of the director, and some of these combinations are inspiring. One of the spectacular moments takes place when a fragment of the Apocalypse read by F. Murray Abraham on the day of anger leads directly to a passionate interpretation of the ‘Dies Irae’ of the Requiem by the impressive choir.
Honeck extracts an incredible dynamic level from both the orchestra and the choir, with precision and vigor. As always happens, many of the most emotional moments are the most serene, such as when the concert closes with the tan of the last three bells. While they resonate, there is a great suspense on both the stage and in the plate.
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