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Aldous Huxley in his famous essay on creativity ‘The Doors of Perception’ written under the influence of mescaline, suggests that the greatest creative talents are not really creative at all but the result of a direct conduit to the ‘Ether’, a filter for the collective creative conscience. 

The Requiem was Mozart’s last composition. He did not live to complete it and the enduring question is how much of it is by Mozart and how much by his pupil Süssmayr who completed the work after Mozart’s death.

The central enigma lies in the fact that on the one hand Süssmayr was a very ordinary talent as a composer and on the other hand the pupil’s music – if indeed it is his - matches that of the master. Perhaps, in the emotional turmoil surrounding Mozart’s death, Süssmayr made his own brief but extraordinary connection with the ‘Ether’? Much scholarly verbiage has been expended on this enigma and there have been several unsuccessful attempts to improve on Süssmayr.

Sir Colin Davis has spent a lifetime with the works of Mozart and believes that, whatever the arguments of scholars, there is no point in messing with a masterpiece. This performance with a fine group of young soloists and the LSO and LSO chorus on top form provides the perfect justification for his view.