Melbourne audiences braved the elements last night and gathered at the Melbourne Town Hall to witness The Melbourne Bach Choir and the Zelman Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rick Prakhoff and with a superb line up of Australian soloists in a memorable performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s triumphant Messa da Requiem.
What is it about Verdi’s Requiem that keeps audiences returning to hear this epic masterpiece with its dramatic outpouring of grief and glory? The celebrated Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi, was a man driven by a combination of personal, political and spiritual motivations expressed in his music. While perhaps best known for his operas with their dramatic narratives that explore everything from Shakesperean tragedy and patriotism to personal loss and political oppression, it is his Requiem that best encapsulates all who Verdi was as an artist.
The accompanying program of last night’s performance included a note that explores Verdi’s problematic relationship with the Catholic Church despite a concern for a profound spiritual and philosophical nature. The Requiem’s integration of religious plainchant with Verdi’s richly innovative writing for the theatre attests to his concern for a humanistic kind of spiritual salvation that transcends the need for institutional piety. Of significance was Verdi’s personal inspiration for the composing of the work: the death of the great Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni. Manzoni was the first Italian writer to produce a modern novel – an epic titled, I promessi sposi (The Betrothed). Verdi most certainly would have read this sprawling romantic epic about the lovers Renzo and Lucia, who are destined to be wedded but who are constantly kept separated by a series of events that test their resolve. Other characters are embroiled in the lovers’ plight by either attempting to bring them together or keep them apart. These characters’ own inner struggles are played out as a spiritual reckoning that results in redemption or damnation because of, or despite, their own machinations. Such a complex story may not have satisfied Verdi enough to translate I promessi sposi to a costumed drama. We may never know. However, it is entirely reasonable to view his Messa da Reqiuem as a mirror work to I promessi sposi. It is also reasonable to speculate that Verdi may have considered a concert work a more appropriate vehicle to express the high drama of inner spiritual struggle.
Verdi’s setting of the Requiem, with its integration of his operatic writing and sublime chant-inspired choral writing, was faithfully translated to live performance by the Melbourne Bach Choir, which began in an arresting manner. The choir deftly executed the first sotto-voce phrases in the Reqiuem Aeternam following the first desolate entry of the orchestra strings. The choir’s delicate singing in this movement and in similar moments throughout the work was noteworthy, marked by some particularly fine sustained singing for the sopranos. The angelic chorus in the Lacrymosa engendered a weightlessness that contrasted effectively with dramatic mezzo-soprano Belinda Paterson’s and baritone Christopher Hillier’s combined tonal richness, resulting in an impassioned expression of religious supplication.
The thunderous Dies Irae of Verdi’s Requiem is the structural lynchpin of whole work. Its themes of judgement, fear and human mortality are never far from more introspective movements, creating a tense underscoring that drives the music forward. The orchestral power unleashed in this movement and in repeated sections proved quite a challenge for the choir, who were able to match the orchestra for all but the two middle repetitions of this section. The choir’s final delivery of the Dies Irae and the “tutta forza” ensemble climax of the Libera me was full of power and pathos.
The complex tension between fear and hope was made even more immediate by some memorable solo performances. From his first solo entry in the Kyrie, tenor Tomas Dalton’s commanding presence, radiant tone and natural delivery made his performance a highlight of the evening. Mezzo-soprano Belinda Paterson sang with a full and rich consistency of tone while delivering some beautifully phrased moments with a matched gravitas in her lower register. Her decrescendo portamenti on “Liber scriptus proferetur” was just one moment demonstrating how dramatic voices are indeed capable of delivering beautiful phrases without resorting to vocal overproduction. Verdi’s Requiem may not be an opera per se; however, its drama calls for a theatrical sensibility when required. Baritone Christopher Hillier was most captivating when his delivery of text was pointed and character driven. His delivery of the text “Mors stupebit” was infused with a Faustian-like stage presence that confirms his continual engagement as an in-demand operatic baritone on stages across Australia. One could see Hillier portray several characters from I promessi sposi – perhaps the enigmatic criminal-noble “L’Innominato” (literally “The Unnamed”) or the villainous Don Rodrigo, since they seem to rise ghostlike from Verdi’s score in these moments. Likewise, soprano Miriam Gordon-Stewart evokes the virtuous character Lucia’s spirit-self, whose dramatic supplication in the Libera me was striking synthesis of operatic vocal writing with cadenza-like flourishes. Gordon-Stewart maintained a freedom of phrasing in the cadenza sections that was only possible due to evident technical prowess. Her commitment to the pathos and emotional depth of the final movement was laudable.
A work like Verdi’s Messa da Reqiuem requires a focal point to integrate the vast orchestral, choral and solo vocal forces. Conductor Rick Prakhoff was most effective in the more nuanced moments of this work. These moments are often given more cursory treatments even though they are the most musically and dramatically tense moments in the work. Prakhoff’s gestures and cues were attentive to the interplay of different orchestral sections with choir and soloists that make conducting symphonic choral repertoire an art unto itself.
Maestro Prakhoff, the orchestra, choir and soloists must be congratulated for some detailed work here where other performances have favoured brute force over musical and emotional depth, of which the latter made this performance truly memorable.
Image supplied.
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Stephen Marino reviewed “Verdi’s Requiem”, performed by the Melbourne Bach Choir and the Zelman Symphony Orchestra at the Melbourne Town Hall on Saturday, September 14, 2024.
