Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Requiem (Arman version) KV 626

The English conductor and composer Howard Arman has presented a complete version of Mozart's Requiem. "Another version?" you might think, as there are now a whole series of other versions available alongside the traditional Süßmayr version. However, Mozart's fragment has such immense potential that the challenge and appeal of completing it remain unbroken. After two decades of intensive study of the work, Howard Arman has incorporated his findings into its completion with care and respect for Mozart's great model.

Arman's approach proves to be particularly fruitful in that - always aware of the limits of his own re-creative activity - he orients himself towards typical characteristics of Mozart's ingenious compositional style: his technical perfection in terms of composition, his search for ever new ways to deal with every situation and his concise treatment of the text with extremely rich harmonies. As a result, this leads to many new listening experiences. In Tuba mirum, for example, there is a warm, cohesive ensemble sound, supported by the bassoons' detachment from the bass foundation. The Confutatis is completely different: Even the basset horns are drawn down into infernal depths here. This effect is reinforced when the trombones are not conducted parallel to the choral parts, but independently, so that their specific sound comes into its own. Arman's Lacrimosa has a lively effect in that the voices are not continued in a stereotyped manner, but with a certain freedom, thereby gaining a "Mozart-like" quality. In his Amen fugue, which concludes the movement, Arman focuses not so much on the counterpoint itself, but rather - in the spirit of Mozart - on a dramaturgy, a development in the course of which the theme is illuminated in all possible facets. Mozart's fragment ends with the Hostias, and so Arman's completion also ends here.

For the four following movements, for which we have nothing more from Mozart (Sanctus to Communio), the edition falls back on the Süßmayr version. Where Mozart is silent, Arman gives precedence to Süßmayr, who was closest to Mozart when this complete blank space was created and whose work is therefore still to be appreciated today.

Arman's version has already proven itself in practice. The world premiere with the Bavarian Radio Choir was enthusiastically received by audiences and the press - and celebrated as a scholarly, completely new take on Mozart's masterpiece.

- World premiere by the Bavarian Radio Choir
- Enthusiastically received by audiences and the press