VERDI Requiem (Thielemann)

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Giuseppe Verdi

Genre:

Vocal

Label: Profil

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 81

Mastering:

DDD

Catalogue Number: PH16075

PH16075. VERDI Requiem (Thielemann)

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Messa da Requiem Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Charles Castronovo, Tenor
Christian Thielemann, Conductor
Dresden State Opera Chorus
Georg Zeppenfeld, Bass
Giuseppe Verdi, Composer
Krassimira Stoyanova, Soprano
Marina Prudenskaya, Mezzo soprano
Staatskapelle Dresden
Although Christian Thielemann is primarily associated with the Germanic greats, he – like his one-time mentor Herbert von Karajan – should not be underestimated as a Verdian. I might have found his Otello from Salzburg a little short on visceral thrills (C Major, 8/17), but his expansive, grand approach to the composer is a fine fit for his Requiem. In this terrific recording, made live at the Semperoper 69 years after the destruction of Dresden, we find Thielemann balancing the operatic and the ecclesiastical superbly, pacing Verdi’s score unerringly.

He’s helped by several factors. First is the Staatskapelle, who play with the expected virtuosity. The strings are silky and agile, and there’s supreme musicality in the solo work (listen for the bassoon, urgent and eloquent, in the ‘Quid sum miser’). The beautifully warm and rounded sound of the brass, meanwhile, imbues their music – so important in this work – with a special nobility. Their interjections in the ‘Liber scriptus’, Marina Prudenskaya soaring above them, are alone almost worth the price of admission.

The Russian mezzo is just one part of the fine solo quartet Thielemann has assembled. Georg Zeppenfeld, a stalwart of the Semperoper ensemble and Thielemann’s recent Hans Sachs at Salzburg, provides a classy foundation, resonant and always tasteful. Charles Castronovo’s voice is captured in vibrant – occasionally slightly over-vibrant – form, but he sings sensitively and movingly. Prudenskaya and Krassimira Stoyanova offer deeply moving performances, too. The mezzo sounds rich and human, the soprano secure and superbly musical. They present a lovely ‘Recordare’ together and Stoyanova is composed and affecting in the ‘Libera me’. All four soloists come together for one of the most touching versions of the ‘Lacrimosa’ I’ve heard in a while, its heavy tread beautifully gauged by Thielemann.

And while the conductor is superb in the more reflective passages of the work, he is no less impressive when it comes to the fire and brimstone, with a ‘Dies irae’ that shakes the rafters with the best of them – helped, as throughout the whole recording – by the excellent work of the Sächsische Staatsopernchor. The sound, taken from an MDR broadcast, is not as clean and focused as it might be but does little to detract from this fine, moving performance. Highly recommended.

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