Preview Verdi's Requiem
Halifax Choral Society, Edinburgh Choral Union, North of England Concert Orchestra and conductor John Pryce-Jones bring Verdi's famous mass to Halifax
Preview: Verdi's Requiem
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The initial impulse to the creation of this Requiem Mass came with the death of Rossini in 1868. Verdi assembled a group of prominent Italian composers to write a movement each for a commemorative Mass, being assigned himself the finale, the Libera Me. The project fell through - it was no job for a committee - but when the Verdi’s contemporary hero, the poet Manzoni, died four years later, he took to finishing the work buy himself.
Luckily, the Libera Me traditionally contains re-cap elements from earlier movements, among them the famous Dies Irae theme. The ethereal Requiem æternam passage for unaccompanied soprano and choir, a musical episode tellingly divine enough for Diana’s funeral, provides the phrase on strings with which this immense work begins. Catholic strictures forbade female vocalists in church, so special dispensation was required for them to take part in the first performance. Even so, they sang behind a screen. The second performance, at La Scala Opera House, suffered no such restrictions, and, though the work is undoubtedly sincerely devout, Verdi was a man of the theatre to the last dot and his operatic style is evident in every bar.
Halifax Choral Society often boast international soloists involved in their concerts that are unsurpassed by any other Yorkshire choir and this occasion maintains that reputation. Claire Rutter, Madeleine Shaw, John Hudson and Gidon Saks hail from different corners of the Earth, but cannot fail to sing at their best with the wall of vocal sound behind them consisting not only of the Halifax Society, but Ediburgh’s Choral Union as well.
Providing plenty of Yorkshire value-for-money, the first half consists of Holst’s The Hymn of Jesus, ethereal and earthy by turns, the Venus/Neptune speckled opening and conclusion framing a lively Jupiter-style 5/4 dance section at its centre. The Hymn relates to the time after the Passover Supper when, on the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus invited the disciples to link hands in a circle while he sang a hymn to them.
The orchestra’s principal cellist, Alexander Volpov is the soloists for Holst’s beautiful Invocation for Cello and Orchestra completes the programme. The remarkable John Pryce-Jones conducts.
28 March, Victoria Theatre, Wards End, Halifax, HX1 1BU, 01422 351 158, 7.30pm, £8-£25
Posted on Friday 5th March 2010
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