The Collegium Vocale Gent provides a crisp, agile sound that makes the syncopated vocal entries feel like rhythmic stabs.
Gut strings and natural trumpets offer a raw, earthy timbre that emphasizes the movement’s inherent tension. Key Musical Moments
The immediate plunge into the D minor tonality is sharp and percussive, rather than a wall of sound.
Herreweghe uses the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées to avoid the "muddiness" of larger Romantic orchestras.
