Verdi on fire at the Royal Festival Hall

by Gwen Herat

I always maintain that I am no opera fan. In fact, some have driven me up the wall. But when its The Requiem by Verdi no one can simply resist its calling, not because one is a die-hard music lover but for its celestial immortal power. I think it appeals more to Christians because of its hypnotic spiritual rush that lay in the score. The awesome precision unleashed upon emotional power is never found or hardly found elsewhere.

So, that brought me to a front-row seat at the Royal Festival Hall.

It happened last month at the Southbank Centre where the Philharmonia Orchestra proudly presented Verdi Requiem in celebration of the composer's bicentenary.

The least erudite among past and present composers, Verdi creates unprecedented impact on conductors who when they perform him, feel elated in the height of powers and it was no exception with Danielle Gatti who took over Verdi in a sensational presentation of the composer's Requiem.

The passionate score with an all-star cast of soloists joined by the full force of the Philharmonia Chorus called upon every device in his operatic armoury to create a thrilling and sensational drama which runs the whole gamut of human emotions that lacerate the fortissimo of human eruptions of the ‘Dies Irae’, to the poignant ending of painful acceptance.

Fiery score

Who else could have composed a fiery score than Verdi?

Written in 1874, Requiem is the only masterpiece that Verdi wrote with no intention for the stage or as a performing miracle for orchestration but to raise voice power. It was for church vestments. For instance, the tenor's ‘Ingemisco’ sometimes sung as a concert item is heart-felt combined with intensity and stirring theatrically setting is a long way from the masses of Bach and Mozart.

Its elegiac spiritual moments are the awesome ‘Dies Irae and ‘Tuba Mirum’ part-scores. It is a chilling piece for a novice or someone who is not acquainted with Verdi's music.

But if not for Ave Maria (Act 4) of Othello, I too would have limbered, lost and found my way out of its lyrical beauty that is differently found in Verdi's Aida. Thanks to my teacher's understanding of the stress I went through playing Ave Maria. But then The Requiem is all operatic which years later, tantalised me. Verdi was one of my teacher's favourite composers and no wonder the patience she had with her students.

Romantic experience

But to Danielle Gatti, it was challenging and a romantic experience he took through singers in their different repertoires all blending magnificently with each other.

I never experienced overlapping or under-tone though I am no expert at opera singing with a mild aversion for it. Beautiful shades bound each other as in colour harmony like a heavenly choir of angels singing from above. That was the impact the Philharmonia Choirs had on the audience under Getti's baton.

Verdi who is recognised widely as one of the greatest of all symphonists but his ground-breaking music was slow to gain the popularity he enjoys today, mainly for the sacred music recognised by the church.

The magical distillation of his creative genius are unsung even today at many concert halls but for conductors like Danielle Getti, Verdi is truly immortal. The Requiem became an archetype for the Romantic generation with its emotional journey from darkness to light and now, is resonating strongly in music over the next century and beyond.

The meticulously rising sounds fashioned in sound scapes were both glorious and spectacular, the perfect backdrop to Verdi's score.

The virtuoso fast-reflexes of binding of voices with soprano in command, formed a blazing climax to the fiery conducting of Danicle Getti.

Credits

Krassimira Stoyanova – Soprano
Merie-Nicole Lemiieuz – Contralto
Francesso Meli – Tenor
Carlo Colombara – Bess-beritone
and members of the Philharmonia Chorus

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) the son of a village innkeeper, was the greatest of all Italian opera composers, involved in church activities as a small child. He was sent to Busseto by his father to study music and soon ended up at the Milan Conservatory as a protege. After studies and through his mastery counterpoint, fugue and canon, he applied to a post in Maestro Di Musica in Buseeto but was turned down. However, he was appointed director of the Philharmonic Society.

From this point onwards, there was no stopping his rise to fame which he performed with utter patience into his nineties.

Shakespeare addict

I think Verdi was influenced by the literati. His composition, Branani was based on a drama by Victor Hugo.

He was a Shakespeare addict and took over the playwright's popular character of Falstaff and went on to do more based on Othello, Merry Wives of Windsor and Macbeth.

He was never an academic nor a theoretician although he was able to write a perfectly poised fugue. In his early works there are the traces of Rossini and Belani influence. His last two masterpieces, a comedy and a tragedy, Verdi had clearly assimilated some of Wagner aura but they are nothing compared to his previous scores that were pure Italina, Verdi and stood as a testament to a great composer's ability to develop and learn the traits that conductor Daniele Gatti discovered in his dedication to Verdi's bicentenary celebrations at the royal Festival Hall. Verdi alwaya ignites fire when his scores are played and The Requiem at the Royal Festival Hall was no different.