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Hermann Scherchen was a figure of central importance in twentieth-century musical life, his continuing espousal of new music making him one of its foremost proponents in Europe. As a conductor he held a deep respect for the composer’s written text, for instance seeking to perform Beethoven’s symphonies at the tempi indicated in the manuscripts, an unusual practice for the time. Technically he believed that a conductor should commence work with an orchestra only when every aspect of a score had been completely memorised, and could be rehearsed from memory. Film of Scherchen conducting shows him to have possessed a very simple and clear beat. Yet he could summon up performances of raw power as well as of great character. He saw the conductor’s job very much as animating the music beyond the notes, writing in 1935, ‘A music devoid of any emotion, of any aesthetic pleasure or spiritual clarification may be of interest to the professional, but has no meaning whatsoever to the normal listener.’ Here, Scherchen leads the Vienna State Opera in a beautiful rendition of Mozart's great Requiem in D Minor, K. 626 "Missa pro Defunctis". This recording is presented with a brand-new digital remaster for stunning modern clarity and stereo field!