Three vocally themed pieces are on display in this week's Mozart update. They're all personal favorites of mine for different reasons.

One of the reasons is that I've seen or performed parts of all three pieces in this post. The performances were Mozart's Requiem Mass in D minor, K.626, his solo religious motet Exsultate, Jubilate, K.165 and the Overture from the opera Die Zauberflote, K.620.

I performed the Requiem with my University Choir and the Lethbridge Symphony, the Magic Flute Overture was with the University Wind Orchestra in a transcribed arrangement, and with the Jubilate, I accompanied a student last summer in an impromptu music festival in Canmore.

Maybe Mozart's been more influential on my life than Beethoven has when you consider all the performances I've done, not many of them either.

Videos from segments of all three are below:

Exsultate, Jubilate, K.165

Cecilia Bartoli performs with Sir Neville Marriner conducting the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at Carnegie Hall, 1994

Die Zauberflote Overture, K.620

Franz Welser-Möst conducts

Requiem, K.626

Lacrimosa movement, Claudio Abbado conducts the Berlin Philharmonic and Swedish Radio Choir, 1999 Herbert von Karajan Memorial concert from the Cathedral in Salzburg

The previous post on Mozart's Requiem can be read here.