Even though the 1792 completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayer is regarded by many as the standard performing version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's unfinished Requiem in D minor, several musicologists have tried their hands at alternative versions with varying degrees of success. In his masterful edition, Robert Levin preserves all that is reliably Mozart's music and much that is admirable of Süssmayer's handiwork, though he substantially recomposes the inept Hosanna fugue, and here and there touches up faulty harmonies and clumsy orchestration. Levin also replaces the cadential close of the Lacrimosa with a completion of Mozart's sketches for an Amen fugue, a feature of this completion that some listeners may find startling, but sufficiently Mozartian and ultimately satisfying as a solution. Martin Pearlman and the Boston Baroque enhance Levin's efforts with a sterling rendition on period instruments that is marvelously resonant, especially with Telarc's vibrant reproduction; soprano Ruth Ziesak, mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby, tenor Richard Croft, and baritone David Arnold form a remarkably sensitive vocal quartet, well attuned to each other in the Recordare and the Benedictus. Of course, no one will ever know what Mozart would have written for the closing movements, had he lived, but Levin's scholarly completion is strikingly idiomatic and thoroughly convincing as a reconstruction, and this exceptional recording is highly recommended. ~ Blair Sanderson, All Music Guide
