Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart left a major work unfinished when he died in Vienna in December 1791, just a few weeks short of his 36th birthday. In a strange yet poetic irony it was the setting of the Requiem Mass. Many myths have grown up around the Requiem and the last few months of the composer's life. Over recent decades, Amadeus, the play by Peter Shaffer that became an Oscar-winning movie in 1984, has played a key role in perpetuating and amplifying them.

This recording features Helen Donath, soprano - Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano - Robert Tear, tenor - Robert Lloyd, bass