Dvorak: Requiem: Symphony No 8

Krassimira Stoyanova, Mihoko Fujimura, Klaus Florian Vogt, Thomas Quasthoff, Wiener Singverein, Mariss Jansons, Royal Concertgebouw OrchestraRCO Live RCO 10001 (2 CDs) ***

Dvorak’s 1890 Requiem is one of those works regularly dubbed problematic. It doesn’t have the kind of qualities that make the 19th-century Requiems of Berlioz, Brahms, Verdi and Fauré stand out. Yet in a performance that finds the right tone of fervour it can hold up very well. Mariss Jansons’s live recording from Amsterdam is beautifully turned, but the general temperature is rather on the low side, and the easy manner keeps emotional engagement at a distance. Jansons’s always musicianly style yields greater dividends

in Dvorak’s sunny Eighth Symphony, although he won’t persuade everyone with his relaxed, almost downbeat approach to the Scherzo. See url.ie/60lv