The a priori objection had best be given due priority, for while this performance is of the generally preferred version of 1893, it is based on what is widely regarded as a superseded edition. This is by John Rutter, whose own recording (Collegium, 1/89) won high praise when it first appeared in 1984, and the new score enabled us to share the enthusiasm of its editor who said that the preparation had been as exciting “as seeing an old master painting stripped of cloudy varnish and shining forth in all its pristine glory and splendour”. The trouble was, as we were soon shown by Jean-Michel Nectoux, Rutter had underestimated the complexity of his task, making a number of unwarranted assumptions and appearing to be unaware of some important source material. This was incorporated into Nectoux’s edition, which has now established itself as the one to use when this version of the Requiem is given. Perhaps it should be added, for clarification, that 1893 was the year of the work’s performance at the Madeleine, and that this was followed by the publication, not of the scoring as heard on that occasion, but first of a working version simply for piano and then of another for full symphony orchestra, the version always used until the mid-1980s and which it seems very likely that Faure permitted only at the instigation of Hamelle, his publisher.
Other recordings of Rutter’s edition have appeared, Matthew Best’s with the Corydon Singers being the obvious one for present comparison as it has the same programme (with the Cantique and Messe basse). Generally, I find the new recording preferable. Its style is rather more taut and rhythmical (as in the Agnus Dei) and on occasions (notably in the Offertoire) more imaginative and refined. The choir are less strong than Best’s in the male voices, but the sopranos and altos show more character, and this tells, particularly in the two-part singing of the Messe basse. Both recordings use a soprano soloist rather than a boy treble for the Pie Jesu (as in the original), Best’s being the more secure. The baritone, Jonathan Brown, has not the richness of Best’s Michael George, but the voice is a good one and intelligently used. It is a pity that texts are not provided; most people will need them for the Cantique de Jean Racine, which is otherwise heard to better advantage here in this characteristically purposeful, wide-awake performance.'