Verdi - Requiem [Live]

Confession time: the Verdi Requiem is my all-time favourite piece. My Desert Island Disc. I own eight or nine recordings of it - the Solti, the Shaw, the Gergiev, the Hickox, the Reiner, the Elliot Gardiner, and Abbado's last recording which boasts the most perfectly balanced vocal quartet of soloists on any recoding - but as an over all experience, this one wins. The fire of Gergiev was dulled by some excessively slow tempi; Abbado hits an extreme or two (fast and slow) but never leaves you bemused by his choices. Reiner is glorious but the recording shows its age, with too many audible edits on CD. Elliot Gardiner gained many fans for the musicality of his reading, but for my money never really let his hair down enough in the big moments. Too controlled. Too English. The climax of this Libera Me created a spine-tingling frisson the like of which I have not had for many a moon. Gheorghiu knocks spots off the melodramatic Flemming for Gergiev; her husband is in an altogether different league from the pitifully undervoiced Bocelli on the same recording. True, I missed some of the orchestral fireworks on the Phillips disc, but here at last is a Requiem I can return to again and again. Everything works, it's as simple as that. Highlights - Alagna's 'Ingemisco'; a perfect 'Lacrymosa'; the whole of the 'Libera Me'. The first time I heard Placido Domingo at Covent Garden, I was simply amazed at how musical his singing was: it wasn't overly clever or emotional, there were no histrionics, it was just perfect. I felt the same way time and again listening to this. And if at times I thought a moment was underplayed (compare Gergiev's ear-splitting climax to the 'Sanctus') in context of the whole performance, it always felt right. Full marks. And many thanks. And just buy the thing - it is the clear front runner in a very crowded field.

For starters, let me state that to my mind, Verdi's Requiem Mass is an extremely difficult work to bring off successfully, not because of any technical difficulties (they are legion: yet Beethoven's Missa Solemnis tops the Requiem in that respect), however the juxtaposition of operatic arias amidst quasi-rennaissance motet writing and the unique Verdi setting of the Day of Judgement poem - as visual as Michaelangelo's Dies Irae fresco - presents an architectural problem - emotion or cold-blooded build-up? Lets take for an example the opening "Requiem aeternam" chorus, where the tune (sung by the soprano in the a-capella section that appears in the very last part, written, incidentaly, some 5 years before the Requiem) is played by the violins, yet the chorus utters the words, sottovoce. What should the conductor do ? Overcharge the violin melody with devotion and passion, and thus lose the sense of direction (as with Gardiner and Giulini) or paint it with large strokes and let us figure for ourselves the "emotional" ingredient (as with Toscanini)? There has to be a balance between head and heart in this piece, and I do think that Abbado achieves precisely that quality, missing from, lets say, 95% of the available versions on record.
Furthermore, I sincerely believe that this particular Requiem needs the ambience of an audience in order to make things happen. Studio versions sound merely studio bound (apart from the Giulini and Gardiner, which also sound a bit manufactured). I have never heard a live version of the Requiem which hadnt some fine ingredient in it. This one is no exception. I have seen and heard a live realy of this particular performance on the 27th of January 2001, and it was a profound and moving experience. Abbado being, supposedly, mortally ill (he looked on TV, alarmingly so, like a skeleton), and conducting his own "requiem", as it were. By the end of the piece, the C-major chords and the muttering of the soprano soloist amidst the chorus 'Libera me Domine de morte aeternum", the camera focused on Abbado, he being unable to dimiss the silence at the very end of the piece, unable to release his hands, he just stood there, weeping and shivering. Then slowly released the tension. The public honoured him by sitting still for some 2 minutes. On the recording, the producer did the most sensible thing by retaining the silence and fading out into oblivion after some 40 seconds.
Apart from all that, let me at once state that I sincerely believe that here is the most perfectly sung and played version availbale. The Berliner Philharmoniker cover themselves with glory. The massive choral forces ammassed here (two Swedish choirs, one Spanish) are simply stupendous. The soloists were (and are) problematic, concering the male voices. The Bass is inadequate, yet he too gets into the spirit of the performance by the "Lacrymosa". Alagna is, well, Alagna, I really dont like the way he sounds today and the lifting-up to notes, a-la Carreras. Yet he phrases most beautifully and is sincere and often very moving. The Mezzo is a find - a truly Italian-sounding voice, with the heft - and sensitivity - required.
People who read my reviews here will already have realized that I am a huge and utterly undiscerning fan of Angela Gheorghiu, The most exciting and individual voice and musical personality currently before the public. Her voice doesnt flinch from the demands she piles on it, on the contrary, it blossoms by the month into a full and warm instrument. She sounds here much, much better than she sounded back in the 1994 Solti La Traviata. In fact, I think she is the most moving soprano soloist on any version. I always thought that for this piece you needed a pure, seamless sound (Margaret Price, Susan Dunn etc) but the dark quality present in Gheorghiu's voice does wonders for the soprano part. She has all those dark colours, yet she is able to float the voice, when needed.
All in all, a riveting experience, by the time those C-major chords will fade into the distance, you will take the first CD and start it all over again....

Verdi's Requiem is often considered one of the finest Requiems of musical history - and rightly so. The music is just overflowing with passion and beauty; melodies that simply melt the heart, lush and rich harmonies and orchestration to blow your mind. The impact of this particular performance is astonishing. The emotion, passion and brilliance of the music comes across very powerfully, yet the Berliner Philarmonic never stray from correct musical technique. It is a fine achievement.

Angela Gheorghiu is simply beautiful. Her voice is perfect for this work; and by the time the heart rendering melody of the 'Libera me' arrives she simply glides and floats delightfully through the sequential falling thirds. It has to be one of my favourite passages of music.

Abbado has done an excellent work in showing off the beauty of this music to its full. It seemed to me that this recording very much brings out the 'Italianness' of the Requiem although I am not entirely sure if I am explaining myself very well here. Let it just be said that this particular performance is a jem of musicianship.

One of the highlights is the famous 'Dies irae' movement which is truely magnificent. There are few things in the world that can beat listening to a piece of music like this and turning your stereo up really loud to feel each crashing chord pounding through your body (or even better would be a live performance). The violins and piccolos wheel and squeal to great heights before the orchestra plunges uniformly to a new crunching depth. Utterly superb! But it is not just the 'Dies irae' that is brilliant, the entire Requiem is just one piece of beautiful music after another.

The conclusion then? Definitely worth getting. This Requiem is a masterpiece of great quality, rich in passionate melody and beautiful operatic voices. In particular this performance has to be one of the best I've heard. A stirring recording.