The present version of Dvorak’s Requiem has undergone various transformations, from the original issue in a handsomely boxed set of two LPs in 1969, by way of a reissue on a pair of CDs that coupled it with Kodaly’s Psalmus Hungaricus and Hymn of Zrinyi (Decca Ovation, 5/89), and now a second reissue with the rather more apt coupling of the Mass in D. Alternative versions are Karel Ancerl’s classic 1959 set, reissued last year and coupled with Fischer-Dieskau’s 1960 set of Dvorak’s Biblical Songs with Jorg Demus; and the 1986 Sawallisch set, which filled two records on its own. Ancerl’s soloists were Maria Stader, Sieglinde Wagner, Ernst Haefliger and Kim Borg, and Sawallisch’s were Gabriela Benackova-Capova, Brigitte Fassbaender, Thomas Moser and Jan-Hendrick Rootering, both versions with the Czech Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra. The new version is not now that new, in fact, and rather shows its age in the recording, which bears regrettably hard upon the magnificent singing of the chorus: as with the orchestral sound, matters are a little cramped and monochrome. The four soloists continue to sound splendid.
The Mass in D (which is sung in the original version with organ) has also gone through various forms. Originally on a single Argo LP all by itself, it turned up again in 1991 coupled with Liszt’s Missa Choralis (Decca, 9/91). There are half-a-dozen other versions currently available, but this one sits well with the Requiem; Simon Preston produces a fine, well-balanced performance, with the Christ Church choristers on excellent form.'