Ludwig van Beethoven regarded Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842) as the greatest composer of his epoch. Marking the 250th anniversary of his birth (14 September 2010), this new recording of the Requiem in C minor pays homage to the composer who is regarded equally as a “conservative revolutionary” and “prophet of the romantic”. The occasion for the work’s composition in 1817 was the funeral ceremony for Louis XVI, who had been executed in 1793 during the French Revolution. Cherubini dispensed with solo parts throughout, preferring an inwardness with strongly characterized text. Within a short period, the work became very well known; musicians such as Beethoven, at whose funeral it was performed, Schumann, and Brahms held it in extremely high regard.
