Elisabeth Grümmer (soprano)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone)
Choir of St Hedwig’s Cathedral
Berlin & Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Rudolf Kempe, conductor


On its first release, this 1955 recording was praised as “a worthy performance of the work and a well recorded one” by Gramophone, which also commented that “Elisabeth Grümmer sings her solo with beautiful tone and deep feeling” and “Fischer-Dieskau gives a[n] expressive and musical account of his part”.

The choir and orchestra perform with measures of equal conviction, subtlety and power.

Recognised as a ‘musician’s conductor’, Rudolf Kempe was an outstanding interpreter of the German classics, always obtaining beautifully lucid playing allied to clarity of rhythm and sensitive phrasing.

“The full weight and wonder of mortality is felt in this 1955 Berlin recording. Kempe creates a sense of awe-inspiring humanity.”
BBC Music Magazine, July 2010 *****