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Verdi Requiem: Christine Brewer (soprano), Stuart Neill (tenor), Karen Cargill (mezzo soprano), John Relyea (bass), London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra; Sir Colin Davis (conductor). Barbican Hall, London 11.1.2009 (JPr)


By their very nature, requiems contain a lot of soul-searching and a need to make good with your ‘Maker’ from one side of the grave or the other. With Verdi’s 1874 Requiem the deceased have not yet passed through the gates of Heaven and are on the brink of death and railing against it. Verdi’s deeply-religious work is a monument to a great man, the Italian novelist and poet Allessandro Manzoni whom Verdi revered and who died in 1873.

Verdi began completing the Requiem after his opera Aida and was at the height of his operatic powers - hence the cliché that this mass is indeed the composer’s ‘greatest opera’. There are arguments to say that this is not far from the truth since the ‘Lacrimosa’ was recycled music from Don Carlo and the beginning of the fearsomely hellish Dies Irae brings us the sound world of the anvil chorus from Il trovatore. Other operatic influences include the Aida-like choruses and large brass choir.

Nevertheless, whilst undoubtedly concerned with death and dying, Verdi makes this requiem into a celebration of life. David Cairns’ programme note for this London Symphony Orchestra concert supports this  idea and seems to describe Verdi’s wish to transcend death by reminding us of Arrigo Boito’s comments after seeing Verdi on his death-bed: ‘Never have I had such a feeling of hatred against death, of contempt of that mysterious, blind, stupid, triumphant and craven power … He hated it, for he was the most powerful expression of life that it is possible to imagine’. It is this ‘powerful expression of life’ that is the essence of Verdi’s Requiem. The fact that this performance  - and its subsequent repeat a few days later, were both dedicated to the memory of the conductor, Richard Hickok, taken from the world of classical music at a relatively young age of 60 only heightened the work’s emotional impact.

The Requiem begins with a whisper and  becomes increasingly noisy and astonishingly complex. Within the limitations of space at the Barbican,  the sound was positively overwhelming and mind-numbing at times, especially  when it came to the Sanctus but there is evidence that this was precisely the impact Verdi wished to create. The London Symphony Chorus was sorely tested and there were many times when only a few words of the liturgical text could be heard, but it was a heroic sound that they made. The intensity of the Dies Irae became more terrifyingly concentrated each time it was recapitulated and from the opening pianissimo right through to the Libera Me at the very end,  the London Symphony Chorus’s discipline was a credit to their coaching under director Joseph Cullen.

Sir Colin Davis’s calm control of the always excellent London Symphony Orchestra, the choir and soloists ensured a performance of pure drama and great depth allied to apparently unlimited reserves of shattering power and passion. Yet within this tumult,  he gave us a number of quieter more refined and lyrical moments that allowed for poignant reflection.

The work requires four soloists with big voices and even with Scotland’s Karen Cargill coming in as last-minute replacement for the previously announced Russian mezzo-soprano,  standing alongside two Americans and a Canadian she completed a formidable quartet. Ms Cargill has a powerful mezzo voce and was especially moving singing sang in duet with Christine Brewer’s soprano,  as in the Agnus Dei particularly. Ms Cargill did have the score but did not seem to need it while it was disappointing once again to see Ms Brewer with her head down and looking at her music for much of the time. I found her soprano had a certain fragility at times but she was at her best as the end of the work approached -  both in the Agnus Dei and also as she called out in the Libera Me. Even so, for me the top and bottom of her voice lacked the vocal heft of her colleagues.

The part for the bass soloist  in Verdi’s Requiem is not huge but John Relyea sang it with real conviction and suitably sepulchral tones, most notably at ‘Mors stupebit et natura’. The most impressive performance  however, was from American tenor Stuart Neill. On the platform and singing from memory he was a huge bearlike figure who  displayed a wonderfully secure and very loud voice. I can imagine mutterings from colleagues about a lack of refinement in his magnificent singing as the ‘Ingemisco’ was certainly somewhat stentorian but he was capable of the most surprising moments of delicacy such as at ‘Hostias et preces tibi’ in the Domine Jesu. Such a voice from someone so physically large is acceptable on the concert platform but his girth must limit his opportunities in stagings of opera: someone of his build would have trouble appearing in either heroic or romantic roles.

In duets, trios and when singing  all together, the four soloists were all very impressive; passages like ‘Domine Jesu Christi’ were incandescent and they made the finale very moving. This memorable performance – already a contender for concert of the year even though we only are at the start of January – thoroughly deserved the standing ovation received by all participants. It was also recorded and hopefully this deeply convincing Verdi Requiem will have an afterlife of its own as an LSO Live release sometime in the future.

Jim Pritchard


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