BBCSSO: Verdi’s Requiem
City Halls, Glasgow - 21/03/24
BBCSSO | Edinburgh Festival Chorus | Ryan Wigglesworth, conductor | Miah Persson, soprano | Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano | Antonio Poli, tenor | William Thomas, bass
“Escape into Drama & Epic Emotions”: a somewhat ironic tagline for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra’s latest Thursday night offering in the Glasgow City Halls, given that the single work on the programme was Verdi’s Requiem, undeniably epic and dramatic, but renowned for its unrelenting focus on the ultimate ‘inescapable’ truth, our mortality. Other 19th century requiems, masses like those of Dvořák and Fauré, or non-liturgical like the glorious Brahms’ German Requiem, offer some comfort and hope of salvation to the living. Verdi’s Requiem is a mass, but its musical language is dominated by that of tragic opera and its structure is dominated by an extended and oft-reprised apocalyptic Dies Irae sequence. If you like that kind of thing, it is thrilling beyond compare. I like that kind of thing. A lot. The 84-strong orchestra (including 4 off-stage trumpets) was joined by just over 100 members of the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, trained by Director James Grossmith, and four soloists, soprano Miah Persson, mezzo-soprano Alice Coote, tenor Antonio Poli and bass William Thomas. BBCSSO Chief Conductor Ryan Wigglesworth conducted. The well-attended performance was introduced by Kate Molleson and broadcast live in Radio 3. It will be available as a podcast on BBC Sounds for another 4 weeks.
Notwithstanding the thrilling musical pyrotechnics that I knew were coming, I love a ‘positive choral pianissimo’ and the baleful opening of the Introit was exactly that, with subtle crescendi elegantly shaped by Ryan. A hint of the goodies to come from the soloists too was provided by the Kyrie, as tenor, bass, soprano and mezzo enter in turn and then blend.
Then the inevitable Dies irae erupted, and it was spinetingling, evoking a terrifying picture of the Last Judgement. A brief sotto voce evocation of trembling in fear was followed by the terrifying Tuba mirum, double chorus and orchestra, especially the brass, evoking the Last Trumpet calling the dead to a final reckoning. The chorus were phenomenal all evening, but I reserve special mention for the eight-part fugal Sanctus, which was almost literally stunning, with some awe-inspiring virtuosity from the three trombones at the end. Ryan marshalled all these forces skilfully, never losing control of the dynamic balance, yet delivering the illusion of unrestrained and irresistible power. Fabulous.
Award-winning bass William Thomas, whom I last saw in the 2022 EIF singing the bass line in a piano 4-hands & SATB soloists’ version of Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzer, delivered a sepulchral Mors stupebit at the beginning and a scrumptious Confutatis maledictis at the end of the Dies Irae sequence. His tone was warm and rich all through his range, with power and volume to draw on when needed.
Verdi entrusts so much of the depiction of awestruck terror before the implacable judgement of the Almighty to the mezzo-soprano and Alice Coote met that challenge with some of the finest singing I’ve ever heard. From Liber scriptusto the end of the Agnus Dei, the flawless clarity of her diction and perfectly moulded messa in voce were breathtaking, with undiminished operatic impact even with the brass chorale playing. Unforgettable
Swedish soprano Miah Persson brought a brighter, lighter tessitura to the performance, not that she lacked power, but Verdi’s soprano line is equally operatic and, while the mezzo ‘character’ displays stamina and feistiness, how we would like to imagine ourselves, the soprano is required to represent the real us, complete with our frailties. Her voice blended exquisitely with Alice’s in the Recordare and the Agnus Dei, and with the tenor too, in Quid sum miser. In the final Libera me sequence she represented us, standing before God, pleading for deliverance. Very moving.
Apart from an impassioned ‘eleison’ in the Kyrie, Italian tenor Antonio Poli (a change from the previously advertised performer) had to wait until the middle of the Dies Irae sequence to shine with his hauntingly beautiful solo, Ingemisco, trembling, contrite and daring to hope for mercy, but shine he did. His delivery was expressively operatic and laden with pathos, all with glorious tone. Freed from the middle line, he blended beautifully with Alice and Miah in the magical glowing polyphony of Lux Aeterna, complete with tremolo strings, flutes and piccolo.
Massive kudos to Ryan Wigglesworth for putting this together. Some great memories to see the loyal BBCSSO audience through the four sadly fallow weeks to come but, of course, also long into the future.