Requiem: Mozart's Death in Words and Music Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra & Manfred Honeck

• Anonymous: Bell Strikes (1):
• 1 Anonymous: Bell Strikes (1) 00:27
• Requiem æternam:
• 2 Anonymous: Requiem æternam 00:51
• Letter from Mozart to His Father in Salzburg:
• 3 Anonymous: Letter from Mozart to His Father in Salzburg 02:55
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791): Maurerische Trauermusik, K. 477:
• 4 Mozart: Maurerische Trauermusik, K. 477 04:34
• Anonymous: Domine exaudi orationem meam:
• 5 Anonymous: Domine exaudi orationem meam 01:29
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Vesperae solennes de confessore, K. 339:
• 6 Mozart: Vesperae solennes de confessore, K. 339: No. 5, Laudate Dominum 03:41
• Anonymous: In quacumque die:
• 7 Anonymous: In quacumque die 01:13
• Nelly Sachs (1891 - 1970): Who Knows Where the Stars Stand:
• 8 Sachs: Who Knows Where the Stars Stand 01:20
• When in the Late Spring:
• 9 Sachs: When in the Late Spring 01:20
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis":
• 10 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": I. Introitus 04:48
• 11 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": II. Kyrie 02:25
• Anonymous: Book of Revelation, 6:8-17:
• 12 Anonymous: Book of Revelation, 6:8-17 02:10
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis":
• 13 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": IIIa. Dies irae 01:45
• 14 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": IIIb. Tuba mirum 03:17
• 15 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": IIIc. Rex tremendae 02:01
• 16 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": IIId. Recordare 04:40
• 17 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": IIIe. Confutatis 02:26
• 18 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": IIIf. Lacrymosa 02:47
• Anonymous: Christus factus est:
• 19 Anonymous: Christus factus est 01:16
• Book of Revelation, 21:1-7:
• 20 Anonymous: Book of Revelation, 21:1-7 01:50
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis":
• 21 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": IVa. Domine Jesu 03:09
• 22 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": IVb. Hostias 04:20
• 23 Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro defunctis": IIIf. Lacrymosa (Fragment) 00:50
• Ave verum corpus, K. 618:
• 24 Mozart: Ave verum corpus, K. 618 03:44
• Anonymous: Bell Strikes (2):
• 25 Anonymous: Bell Strikes (2) 00:41
• Total Runtime 59:59

Info for Requiem: Mozart's Death in Words and Music

The beloved Requiem of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in a very special interpretation. Academy Award and Golden-Globe-winning film and Broadway star F. Murray Abraham joins Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for Honeck’s dramatic conception of “Requiem: Mozart’s Death in Words and Music.” Over a decade ago, Honeck contemporized Mozart’s epic masterpiece by incorporating text into the score. F. Murray Abraham, Manfred Honeck, and the Orchestra previously performed “Requiem: Mozart’s Death in Words and Music” at Heinz Hall in 2012 and at Carnegie Hall in 2014.

Known for a wide range of roles on stage and screen, the highly acclaimed F. Murray Abraham won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Italian composer Antonio Salieri in the film Amadeus, which fictionalized a relationship between Salieri and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and featured the music of Mozart on the soundtrack. Abraham starred in the critically acclaimed series Homeland, for which he received two Emmy nominations. Abraham recently starred in the HBO hit television series The White Lotus as “Bert,” for which he received a Golden Globe nomination.

“We are so thrilled that the exceptional artist F. Murray Abraham will return to Pittsburgh to collaborate again with Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony on what promises to be an extraordinary concert weekend,” said Melia Tourangeau, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. “Manfred Honeck’s interpretation of Mozart’s Requiem is a very special one that includes traditional Austrian death bells, Gregorian chant, and conveys both solace and hope.“

This album was recorded live in 2023 in beautiful and historic Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in superb audiophile sound. Maestro Honeck honors us again with his peerless music notes, in which he gives us great insight into his musical interpretation of Mozart’s final, iconic work.

Now in its 130th season, The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is credited with a rich history of engaging the world’s finest conductors and musicians, and is deeply committed to the Pittsburgh region and citizens. Since 2008 the Orchestra has been led by Manfred Honeck, its internationally renowned Music Director. Past music directors have included many of the greats, including Fritz Reiner, William Steinberg, Andre Previn, Lorin Maazel and Mariss Jansons. The Orchestra has always been at the forefront of championing new works, including recent commissions by Mason Bates, Stacy Garrop, James MacMillan, Wynton Marsalis, Jessie Montgomery and Julia Wolfe. The Orchestra has a long and illustrious history in the areas of recordings and live radio broadcasts dating back to the 1930s. It has toured frequently both domestically and overseas since 1896. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra continues to be critically acclaimed as one of the world’s greatest orchestras.

This release is the sixteenth in the highly acclaimed Pittsburgh Live! series of releases on the FRESH!imprint from Reference Recordings. This series has received GRAMMY® awards in 2025 for its recording of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7; Bates: Resurrexit, and in 2018 for Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5 /Barber Adagio for Strings, as well asnumerous GRAMMY® Nominations for other titles in the series. This release and the entire Pittsburgh Live! series are produced, recorded and mastered by the team at Soundmirror, whose outstanding orchestral, solo, opera and chamber recordings have received over 140 GRAMMY® nominations and awards.

F. Murray Abraham, narrator
Jeanine De Bique, soprano
Catriona Morison, mezzo-soprano
Ben Bliss, tenor
Tareq Nazmi, bass
Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh (Prepared by Betsy Burleigh and Dr. Ryan Keeling)
Tenors and Basses of The Westminster Choir
James Jordan, choir conductor
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Manfred Honeck, conductor

Manfred Honeck
has served as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra since the 2008-2009 season. Together with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Honeck's widely celebrated performances and distinctive interpretations continue to receive international recognition. To great acclaim, Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra regularly perform in major music capitals and festivals, among them the BBC Proms, Musikfest Berlin, Lucerne Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Beethovenfest Bonn, Grafenegg Festival, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra have also built a close relationship with the Musikverein in Vienna. Following a week-long residency in 2012, they will return once again for three performances in the course of an extensive tour of Europe in spring 2016.

Honeck's successful work with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has been extensively documented on recordings with the Reference and Exton labels. The first SACD released by Reference Records of Strauss tone poems, drew rave reviews. The second recording, of Dvořák's Symphony No. 8 and the Symphonic Suite from Janáček's opera Jenůfa, conceptualized by Honeck himself, was nominated for a Grammy Award. Bruckner's Symphony No. 4 was released in February 2015 to critical acclaim. The next recording, Beethoven 5 & 7, was released in November 2015. Several recordings, among them Mahler's Symphony No. 4, which won a 2012 International Classical Music Award, are also available on the Japanese label Exton.

As a guest conductor, Honeck has worked with the world's leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris and Accademia di Santa Cecilia Rome. In the United States, Honeck has conducted the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra. He is also a regular guest at the Verbier Festival. In 2013, Honeck gave his successful debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, resulting in a CD recording of Dvořák together with Anne-Sophie Mutter for Deutsche Grammophon which received an Echo Klassik award in 2014. The 2015-2016 season sees him return to Bamberg, Stuttgart, Rome, Stockholm and New York, as well as the Munich Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, among others.

Born in Austria, Honeck received his musical training at the Academy of Music in Vienna. Many years of experience as a member of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and at the helm of the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra have given his conducting a distinctive stamp. Honeck began his career as assistant to Claudio Abbado in Vienna. Subsequently, he was engaged by the Zurich Opera House, where he was bestowed the prestigious European Conductor's Award in 1993. Honeck was one of three main conductors of the MDR Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig and in Oslo, he assumed the post of music director at the Norwegian National Opera and was engaged as principal guest conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2000 to 2006, he was music director of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm and, from 2008 to 2011, principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he resumed for another three years at the beginning of the 2013-2014 season.

From 2007 to 2011, Honeck was music director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart where he conducted premieres including Berlioz's Les Troyens, Mozart's Idomeneo, Verdi's Aida, Richard Strauss's Rosenkavalier, Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites and Wagner's Lohengrin and Parsifal, as well as numerous symphonic concerts. His operatic guest appearances include Semperoper Dresden, Komische Oper Berlin, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, Royal Opera of Copenhagen, the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg and the Salzburg Festival.

Honeck has received honorary doctorates from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania and, most recently, from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Moreover, he has been artistic director of the "International Concerts Wolfegg" in Germany for more than 20 years.

Booklet for Requiem: Mozart's Death in Words and Music