This distinctive recording of Mozart’s last great work can claim to be unique in two defining ways: the use of soloists drawn from the chorus, as in Mozart’s day (including young male singers for the soprano and alto solos), combined with a period orchestra. These are not idle historical gestures. The contemporary virtues of this approach are consistency in the sound-world between chorus and solo ensemble, and homogeneity of style between period ensemble (here the superlative Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment) and period chorus.  

The musical text employed is Süssmayr’s completion of Mozart’s unfinished score – what Christoph Wolff has called ‘the only document that represents the genuine musical truth of the unfinished work’.