Except for a newly sprightly “Benedictus”, Colin Davis’s live Mozart Requiem (actually a conflation of two separate Barbican performances) is very much in the mould of his earlier recordings (Philips, 3/94 – nla, and RCA, 11/92) of this most-recorded of choral works. As ever, Davis has no truck with “authenticity” and revisionism. Using the traditional Süssmayr completion, infelicities and all, this is a grandly scaled, nobly contoured reading, by turns monumental and ferociously dramatic. With biting choral attack, searing, spitting strings and scything trumpets, the “Dies irae” has a terrifying intensity I have rarely heard equalled. The “Rex tremendae”, too, is overwhelming in its desperate fervour and grimly sustained impetus, with the inexorable dotted rhythms hewn from granite.

In moments of reflection and supplication Davis’s penchant for grave tempi and loving, espressivo phrasing can have its dangers. The “Lacrimosa” unfolds as if in a hypnotic trance, while the “Hostias” sounds to me solemnly reverential rather than rapt, as Davis presumably intended, with some tired intonation from the usually impressive choral sopranos. The “Recordare”, too, for all its tender orchestral detailing, lacks an underlying beseeching urgency – not merely a question of tempo. Here and in the unexpectedly light-footed “Benedictus” the soloists make a well balanced, mutually considerate team, though you may find soprano Marie Arnet’s distinctive fast vibrato slightly disconcerting at first. If you want a traditionally conceived budget-price Requiem, well sung (though the choral textures can lose focus in piano passages), superbly played and vividly recorded, Davis’s performance has much to commend it. That said, my budget choices would be Schreier (Philips, 10/01), often similar in conception to Davis but with more inner vitality in the prayerful movements, and the uncompromisingly intense Britten (BBC Legends, 9/03 – nla), who at the Maltings in 1971 conducted the Requiem as if possessed.