SCHUTZ. SACRED CHORAL WORKS. La Chapelle * Royale Soloists. Chorus and Instrumental- ists / Philippe Herreweghe. Harmonia Mundi ffJ HMC1261;HMC401261;UJHMC901261 (59 minutes: DDD). Texts and translations included.

Musicalische Exequien, SWV279-81. Also hatt Gott die Welt geliebt. SWV380. Selig sind die Toten, SWV391. So fahr ich hin zu Jesu Christ, SWV379. Ich bin die Auferstehung, 5WV324. 0 lieber Herre Gott, SWV287. Die Himmel erzàhlen, SWV386.

SCHUTZ. Musicalische Exequien, SWV279-81. * Danket dem Herren, denn er ist freundlich,

SWV45. Chiaroscuro; Bade Boys' Choir; Schola Cantorum Basiliensis Instrumental Ensemble / Hans-Martin Linde. EMI Reflexe CD CD CDC7 49225-2 (42 minutes). Texts and translations included. From EM I Electrola 1 C 065 03828 (10/81).

In a perfect world it would be gratifying to be able to say that neither of these two recordings containing Schütz's great Musicalische Exequien is to be recommended above all other contenders. Sadly, the ideal performance of the Exequieninspired, free of blemish and imaginatively recorded—simply does not yet exist, and those who have it in mind to include the work in their CD collections are faced with a difficult choice. Reviewing the re-release of Hans-Martin Linde's version on LP in September 1985, 1 was able to commend it only as the best performance of the Musicalische Exequien then available. A new interpretation by La Chapelle Royale under Philippe Herreweghe might seem likely to have changed matters, but in the event it does not; neither performance is entirely satisfying, and Linde's in many respects proves to be the stronger of the two.

Admittedly Herreweghe's disc has some clear advantages. It is considerably better filled, with a good selection of full and solo motets—largely of a funerary nature—making up the playing time virtually to a full hour. On Linde's much shorter record the Musicalische Exequien is complemented only by Schütz's spectacular Psalm 136, SWV45, a sharply contrasted piece resplendent with trumpets and drums but somewhat roughly performed. Herreweghe wins hands down, too, in the quality of the recorded sound; Linde's performance appears dull and unsophisticated by comparison, lacking presence and clarity.

In almost every other respect, however, Herreweghe and his performers do not really satisfy. Their interpretation of the Musicalische Exequien itself, cautious and tending towards the anaemic, has a chamber feel about it that denies the music its true sense of liturgy or occasion. The soloists, gentle-voiced and inscrutable, pay more attention to delicacy of tone than to eloquence; neither their words nor those of the (mixed-voice) choir have the distinctness or emphasis needed to push home the message of such a remarkable funeral oration as this. No thrust, no real momentum is built up in the performance. As for Schlitz's extraordinary final section—the words of the "Nunc dimittis", troped by distant solo singers with the words "Blessed are the dead who died in the Lord"—the sound of Herreweghe's choir either masks or merges into that of the soloists, frustrating yet another potentially magic moment.

Placed beside Herreweghe, Linde's readings seems to come closer not only to the spirit of the piece but also to the essence of Schütz. The Basic Boys' Choir, though perfect neither in balance nor in tuning, do at least sing with passion and immaculately enunciated German. The solo singers of Chiaroscuro, if again not entirely even in quality, do include some powerful communicators; the bass duetting of Richard Wistreich and Josef Agosti in particular is a real joy. And, rough as the sound-quality in general may be, there's a feeling of space about the much meatier performance of the climactic final section. Linde, then, gets my vote; but the temptation to abstain, at least until something even better comes along, is admittedly very great. J. M.