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Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Requiem | |||
| 2. Kyrie eleison | |||
| 3. Dies irae | |||
| 4. Tuba mirum | |||
| 5. Mors stupebit | |||
| 6. Liber scriptus - Dies irae | |||
| 7. Quid sum miser | |||
| 8. Rex tremendae | |||
| 9. Recordare | |||
| 10. Ingemisco | |||
See all 12 tracks on this disc
| |||
| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Domine Jesu Christe | |||
| 2. Hostias | |||
| 3. Sanctus | |||
| 4. Agnus Dei | |||
| 5. Lux Aeterna | |||
| 6. Libera me, Domine | |||
| 7. Dies irae | |||
| 8. Requiem, aeternam | |||
| 9. Libera me, Domine | |||
Product Description
Review
Verdi’s Messa da Requiem must be one of the greatest classical works of all time, so a new recording, conducted by such an artist as Antonio Pappano, was always going to attract attention. This deserves attention, too; it’s a gargantuan, extraordinary performance, given by an extraordinary musical cast.
Verdi wrote his requiem in response to the deaths of two of Italy’s greatest artistic figures, the composer Gioacchino Rossini and the nationalist poet Alessandro Manzoni. In 1868, Verdi proposed that Italy’s leading composers collaborate to produce a requiem in honour of Rossini. He wrote a “Libera Me”, but the rest of the work never materialised. Five years later, Manzoni died. This time Verdi followed the adage that, if you want a job done properly, you should do it yourself, and worked his earlier “Libera Me” into a full-scale requiem. The work, premiered in 1874, is of such dramatic force, encompassing every extreme of emotion, that the effect is almost overpowering. Even so, it isn’t so much Verdi the angst-ridden Catholic (he was in fact a spiritual agnostic), as Verdi the opera composer, and at the time he was criticised for essentially writing an opera in disguise.
Antonio Pappano, with his Italian heritage and operatic career, quite obviously has this music coursing through his veins. Recorded in concert, it catapults the listener into the concert hall with its energetic force and surging rhythms. The dramatic contrasts are magnificently worked, from the tender, subdued opening “Requiem” movement, to a “Dies Irae” of such fiery rage that it knocks (and scares) ones metaphorical socks off. The textural and dynamic contrasts in the “Rex Tremedae” are stirringly delivered, building to a climax that makes you hair stand on end. Verdi’s writing demands soloists with power across their whole vocal range, and all four deliver on this front making it impossible to single out individuals for praise. They’ve also been perfectly matched with each other, blending beautifully as a quartet. The choral singing is equally as full-blooded, well blended, and brilliantly articulated.
What more can one say? Without a doubt, this will prove to be a seminal recording. --Charlotte Gardner
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CD Description
Following the release of his critically acclaimed recording of Madama Butterfly, Music Director Antonio Pappano returned to the Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in January 2009 for performances of Verdi’s spectacular Requiem with stellar soloists Anja Harteros, Sonia Ganassi, Rolando Villazón and René Pape. Pappano brings out the extremes of dynamics in the orchestral, solo and chorus parts.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very fine but not really special,
By
This review is from: Verdi: Messa da Requiem (Audio CD)
If you knew no other recording of the Verdi "Requiem", this one would be more than satisfactory; indeed it is very fine indeed. The sound is spectacular, the orchestral playing superb, the choral singing by turns nuanced and powerful - really expressive - and Pappano's direction mostly unerring. One might quibble about details such as the over-emphatic staccati he applies to "ne absorbeat eas" in the "Offertorio" or a slight lack of "lift" in "quam olim Abrahae" in that same movement - indeed it is only there that I experience some minor disappointment, being used to more impetus and the kind of swagger you get from Bernstein - but by and large tempi and phrasing are admirably judged. My main reservations come with the soloists: each is undoubtedly fine but equally each is definitely surpassed elsewhere and none has a very identifiable vocal personality - Harteros and Ganassi sound very similar, for example and that is mainly because Ganassi is not a true Verdi mezzo; both voices lack the necessary lower register weight and Harteros cannot float and expand a note the way Leontyne Price or Martina Arroyo could. There is also a little edge to Harteros' soprano where more Verdian warmth is required. Pape is suitably black-browed but again, the top of his voice does not bloom and there is a dryness and lack of Italianate bite which a bass such as Siepi evinced in his several recordings. It is good to hear Villazon back in good voice and he gives a really sensitive, beautifully shaded account of his two big "arias" (shall we call them!), but he is no Bjorling or Bergonzi and there is a lack of gleam in his husky tone.This is still a very fine account and will give much pleasure; there are almost none of the lapses in intonation so common in recordings of this wonderful music - especially in live ones, such as this - and so much here is right. It's not so much what is wrong, as what is missing that causes me to knock off a star in my rating. I can imagine other listeners being wholly satisfied with this excellent EMI recording and perhaps I am being too fussy, but as a self-confessed Verdi "Requiem" nut and a voice fancier who owns a dozen or so different recordings, I am fairly sure that there are at least half a dozen which I might prefer to listen to before this one.
13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
EXPECT SURPRISES,
By
This review is from: Verdi: Messa da Requiem (Audio CD)
This review is not for experts, for if you are like me, and you like your music to pull at the heartstrings and to to shake you back into the real world, this is for you. Do not turn up the volume at the beginning, for the first few bars are so quiet you can hardly hear them. But then comes the shock, the thrill and the excitement as Verdi's most famous and important work gets into its stride.It takes an Italian conductor and an Italian Orchestra and choir to draw from this serious music sounds which touch every nerve and even to send shivers up your spine. It is destined, the critics say, to become the 'top model' of this Mass for the years to come, and if, like me, you want to reach into your soul to discover feelings you did not know you had, just listen. Read the booklet to know why Verdi wrote it and how it is that these musicians are the tops when it comes to interpreting serious music to folk like you and me, as well as to serious music lovers. And the more you listen, the more you will hear and understand.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Verdi Requiem,
By
This review is from: Verdi: Messa da Requiem (Audio CD)
What a powerful performance from Pappano and his Roman orchestra and choir. I'm a little worried about Villazon - did I detect signs of his throat problems (now hopefully resolved)? Magnificent - to be put alongside Toscanini and Guilini.
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