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 … If you want a traditionally conceived budget-price Requiem, well sung, superbly played and vividly recorded, Davis’s performance has much to commend it.” (Gramophone)
