At the end of his life Gluck spoke of Salieri as his only true heir. Spasmodic recordings of his operas have borne this out, revealing the Viennese Hofkapellmeister and mentor of Beethoven, Schubert and Liszt as far more than the dutiful journeyman of Amadeus-fuelled myth. That said, I don’t think this Requiem of 1804 shows Salieri at his finest. There are memorable things – the sombre, measured tread and mournful cor anglais of the Introit (shades of Gluck here), theatrical plunges to remote keys in the Sequence, a gently songful “Benedictus” in the Austrian pastoral tradition. But the overall impression is of dignified, slightly chilly formality – not altogether inappropriate for a Requiem, you might say, though more than once the invention (say, in the jaunty “Te decet hymnus”) struck me as distinctly banal. Salieri’s choral writing, too, tends to be solidly, unimaginatively homophonic; and when he does resort to counterpoint, as in the fugato at the end of the Offertory, the results are perfunctory, with none of the grandeur or rhythmic energy which Mozart and Haydn brought to their quasi-Baroque fugal forays.

Still, the curious will not be disappointed by this Lisbon performance, recorded live, with well-judged orchestral/choral balance. Lawrence Foster chooses convincing tempi and relishes the intermittent opportunities for drama in the Sequence. A word, too, for cor anglais player Alice Caplow-Sparks in her various solos. The chorus, topped by a youthful, unwobbly soprano line, sing with fresh, well-knit tone; and the solo quartet, with little to challenge them, blend agreeably in the “Benedictus” and “Libera me”. The fillers provoke contrasting reactions. In the Beethoven rarity – a setting of Goethe verses inspired by the poet’s voyage from Naples – Foster and his forces finely build the tension as the sailors anxiously survey the sea’s eerie calm, and then launch into a jubilant, springy Allegro. But the serene Schubert offertory, one of his very last works, is seriously marred by a raw-toned tenor soloist incapable of producing anything in the way of graceful or expressive phrasing.