Verdi Requiem in a dynamic DYNAMIC release

ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Dedicated to the victims of Covid 19 and to all the volunteers who tended to their needs, and given in a socially distanced setting for its chorus, soloists, orchestra, and audience of masked participants, the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini and the chorus of Parma’s Teatro Regio led by Roberto Abbado deliver a powerhouse performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s 1874 masterwork.

Impeccably recorded by Marco Scalfi in a September 2020 performance, the video-recording features in its sterling quartet of soloists, soprano Eleonora Burato, mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili, tenor Giorgio Berruci, and bass Roberto Tagliavini. Each of them and the superb Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini and the chorus of Parma’s Teatro Regio own just more than a moment throughout the approximately ninety minutes of the CD’s playing time that follows a spoken introduction and a minute of silence that commemorates the dead.

Verdi’ Requiem, dedicated to the Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni takes the text of the Mass for the Dead and turns it by way of its music into a journey that grapples with the mysteries of life and death, voyaging through the darkness of its Kyrie and Dies Irae, then finding temporary relief from life’s vicissitudes as expressed in the Quid sum miser trio and the Recordare duet for soprano and mezzo-soprano, then bluntly interrupted by the fire and brimstone of the bass aria Confutatis Maledictus, and weeping for life’s misery and begging for peace in the central Lachrymosa.  

The music ultimately leads to the ecstatically quiet contemplation of Lux aeterna, but Verdi does not gives his composition a placid ending, for it is the lone voice of the soprano who utters a final plea in the unaccompanied Deliver me, Lord from eternal death.

The quartet of soloists performs with formidable vocalism and exquisite musicality. Tenor Giorgio Berrugi sings his Ingemisco with a perfect balance of delicacy and squillo. Roberto Tagliavini uses his fine lyric bass voice to perfection in the ensembles and shines in an earth-shaking Confutatis. Mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili brings a perfect mix of stunning power and calming lyricism to her singing, and soprano Eleonora Burato offers gorgeous pianissimo high notes, the perfect Italianate spinto sound, and solid musicianship in all of her participation.

Roberto Abbado elicits a noble performance from all his forces infused with perfect balance, unmannered tempi, and sensitive attention to the soloists.

The 37895 DVD is available on the Dynamic label.

Bravo tutti!

Rafael de Acha     All about the arts

Published by ALL ABOUT THE ARTS

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”