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Verdi, Requiem: Micaela Carosi (soprano), Piotr Beczala (tenor), Olga Borodina (mezzo soprano), Ildar Abdrazakov (bass), The Royal Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Antonio Pappano, Royal Opera House, London 13.3.2009 (JPr)


It is believed that Verdi was not a religious man and was fundamentally a man of the theatre, however, despite this, just prior to the première of his Requiem, he wrote to a friend: ‘I have done nothing but write note after note, to the greater glory of God … Now the music is done, and I am happy to have written it.’

Verdi was idolized by the Italians of his day and clearly knew how to manipulate the emotions of his audience in the opera house,  but with his Requiem he carries this skill into the concert hall too. The work was composed to honour two men he admired; the novelist and poet Alessandro Manzoni and the conductor Angelo Mariani. Verdi’s Requiem traverses almost the complete range of human feeling in its ninety minutes span. For a sombre religious work to speak so directly and powerfully to its audience was unexpected and it had many critics after its first performance. Hans von Bülow took one look at the score and said it was ‘Verdi’s latest opera, though in ecclesiastical robes’ and Wagner had nothing to say about it when he heard it once in Vienna. Many criticised the theatricality of the work, although Verdi’s adoring Italian public could not get enough of it and later critics had differing views too. Bernard Shaw, who had always admired Verdi's music,   suggested early in the twentieth century that none of Verdi's operas would prove as enduring as the Requiem.

So, what better way to reassess this work than to have it performed in the opera house by an opera orchestra brought out of the pit and onto the stage?  At this Covent Garden performance, the Royal Opera' music director, Antonio Pappano, conducted his orchestra, an expanded chorus and four imported soloists in a resounding account of the score. He seemed in no great hurry and allowed every facet of the Requiem to make its true impact.

He began the work meditatively and almost too quietly even though this followed Verdi’s instruction to play ‘as quietly as possible’. The sound built almost imperceptibly yet steadily until the great cry of Kyrie eleison (Lord have mercy on us) from the ardent tenor, Piotr Beczala. The volume was cranked up further for the fire and brimstone terrors of the Dies Irae (Day of anger) that thundered out from the orchestra and chorus of about 90 voices. For the Tuba mirum, trumpets in the balcony boxes responded to those on stage in an attempt to surround the audience with sound. Everything reaches a climax in this section and then the bass Ildar Abdrazakov changes the mood with Mors stupebit et natura (Death shall be stunned, and nature). His is a mightily cavernous voice and the familiar hollow vowel sounds of his Russian bass did not blend well with the other three singers.

The two female soloists combined nicley for Recordare, Jesu pie (Recall, kind Jesus) and some of Pappano’s most expansive tempi were while his soprano Micaela Carosi (a late replacement for Barbara Frittoli) and his veteran mezzo-soprano Olga Borodina were singing. Beczala sang a resolute and impassioned Ingemisco that was quickly followed by a portentous Confutatis maledictus (When the damned are confounded) from Abdrazakov. Olga Borodina was outstanding throughout the evening from her fervent Liber scriptus througn to her declamatory contribution to Lux aeterna (Eternal light) amongst the ensemble.

I was a little confused by Micaela Carosi’s soprano voice since she clearly has a tremendous range and deep chest notes. For someone who sings a lot of Verdi and Puccini the top of her voice seemed to have a certain fragility; she often seemed to be yelling out her vocal punctuations during the final Libera me (Deliver me) such as at Tremens factus sum ego (I quake with fear). She did imbue all of  her contributions with suitable dramatic intensity and here it was quite clear that Verdi expects any prayers for liberation from eternal death to go unheeded, as he believes there is absolutely no-one to hear them. However,  Ms Carosi’s performance cannot be criticised too much because she was a late replacement and the use of a handkerchief suggested that she was not entirely healthy herself.

Verdi’s theatrical sense realised that ‘it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish’ and concludes his expressive spiritual masterpiece with his magnificent Dies irae theme once again and further reprises the plaintive opening music.

The Royal Opera Chorus sang with their usual impeccable diction and uniformity of phrasing and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House responded to their musical director’s galvanising baton with vivid playing that was full of rich detail. Maybe it is my ears - maybe the acoustics of the opera house - but the brass and horns did seem to be the orchestra’s weakest section and did not have the bright clarion sound that this music demands. Nevertheless this was a superb evening that even if a little short on spiritual radiance,  was potent with operatic theatricality. I believe Verdi would have been happy with that.

Jim Pritchard

There will a further performance of Verdi's Messa da Requiem at the Birmingham Symphony Hall on Friday 20 March at 7.30pm followed by a performance of Britten's War Requiem at the Birmingham Symphony Hall on Saturday 21 March at 7.30pm. For further information please see the Symphony Hall website http://www.thsh.co.uk/.

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