Verdi: Requiem

Conducting the brilliantly disposed Bavarian Radio Chorus and Symphony Orchestra, Mariss Jansons transforms the Golden Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein into a heavenly anteroom. From the very first, hushed measures, the orchestra “once again impressively demonstrates its leading rank among the German orchestras” (Die Presse).

The four outstanding soloists fuse together to project a vast range of emotions, from whispered reverence to emotional upheavals. While Bulgarian soprano Krassimira Stoyanova has been closely associated with the Wiener Staatsoper for several years now, mezzo-soprano Marina Prudenskaya has been steadily building her international career, one major role after another. Albanian-born tenor Saimir Pirgu was chosen by Claudio Abbado at the young age of 22 to sing Ferrando in “Così fan tutte.” Bulgarian bass Orlin Anastassov, meanwhile, has established himself as a superb Verdi singer.

Verdi’s “Messa da Requiem” is in itself a work of superlatives: a towering structure of blazing brass, mighty choral masses and tour-deforce passages for four soloists... a work of deepest and most heartfelt intimacy... a mass for the dead without any mawkish undertones... Quite possibly the foremost achievement in 19th-century liturgical music.