Prom 13: Verdi’s Requiem under Bychkov, by Huntley Dent


Giuseppe Verdi in 1872.

Prom 13:
Verdi: Requiem

Marina Poplavskaya - soprano
Mariana Pentcheva - mezzo-soprano
Joseph Calleja - tenor
Ferruccio Furlanetto - bass

BBC Symphony Chorus
BBC National Chorus of Wales
London Philharmonic Choir
BBC Symphony Orchestra

Semyon Bychkov - conductor

Temporary immortality. The Verdi Requiem is an event, a masterpiece, an emotional catharsis, but also an old shoe. Well worn by dozens of recordings since two great ones, by Toscanini and De Sabata, started the grooves turning, it hasn't been saved from familiarity by being magnificent, any more than the Grand Canyon has. What do you do to breathe life back into music that has been worn down by so many feet? (I apologize to readers who feel that I'm asking the equivalent of "Caviar again? Didn't we have that yesterday?")

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International journal for the Arts!







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