VERDI Requiem (Thielemann)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Giuseppe Verdi
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Profil
Magazine Review Date: 06/2019
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 81
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: PH16075
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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 |
Author: Hugo Shirley
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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