VICTORIA: MISSA PRO DEFUNCTIS

His Last major work, written in 1603 at the death of the Empress Maria and dedicated to her daughter Margaret, Victoria's six-voice Requiem has always counted as his supreme masterpiece, and it has been recorded at least six times... What distinguishes the Spanish version is the rich bloom of the choral sound in the resonant acoustic at Montserrat. The tempi are steady, the boys' voices are strong and passionate, and the lower voices tend to maintain an accompanying role. Texts are often relegated in favour of the flow of the line, especially at cadences where the final consonants are usually inaudible. Intonation is sometimes less good than is compatible with even the fairly generous vibrato of the singers—particularly in the "Libera me". So this version makes a striking contrast with the St John's [Decca] recording, where the boys have hard-edged if quiet voices and the men are clear if sometimes rough. The listener who wishes to choose between them would do best to start with the