Orchestre des Champs-Elysées & Collegium Vocale Gent

Mozart’s Requiem is undoubtedly one of the highlights of musical history: a meditation on life and death that leaves nobody unmoved. Mozart died before he could complete his overwhelming farewell composition. Such an inward gaze into the abyss of the human soul had never been heard before in music. Maybe the ailing Mozart had a presentiment that he was composing his own requiem, a presentiment that was heavily underlined in Miloš Forman's celebrated film Amadeus. What a weight that must have been on Süßmayr's shoulders, when he accepted the commission to complete his master's outlines. And how! Süßmayr's version became the canon, performed countless times, but still a consummate model of emotion in sound. Such a masterpiece naturally deserves a fitting overture. Philippe Herreweghe and his top orchestra chose Symphony no. 41 ‘Jupiter’, which closes with an impressive fugue.