Verdi: Requiem / Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano [Doppel-CD] – Tonträger neu kaufen

Neuware

84 Min.

2009

Doppel-CD

140 g

Verdi: Requiem / Harteros, Ganassi, Villazon, Pape, Pappano

Release Date: 10/06/2009
Label: EMI Classics Catalog #: 98936 Spars Code: DDD
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
Performer: Anja Harteros, Rolando Villazón, Sonia Ganassi, René Pape
Conductor: Antonio Pappano
Orchestra/Ensemble: Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Chorus, Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Orchestra
Number of Discs: 2
Recorded in: Stereo


Works on This Recording

1. Requiem Mass by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer: Anja Harteros (Soprano), Rolando Villazón (Tenor), Sonia Ganassi (Mezzo Soprano),
René Pape (Bass)
Conductor: Antonio Pappano
Orchestra/Ensemble: Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Chorus, Santa Cecilia Academy Rome Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1874; Italy


Notes and Editorial Reviews

If you love Verdi's Requiem as much as I do you can get awfully picky about modern recordings of the work. But there's not much to be picky about in Antonio Pappano's excellent version; he straddles the line between the work's theatrical and "spiritual" sides and conveys important structural features without slighting details. In that respect he reminds me of Guilini--not in the famous EMI recording, but in the BBC Live performances that have more spark and dynamism. Pappano here commands a wide dynamic range and is about as idiomatic a Verdian as we have today.

The recording stems from live concert performances in Rome where, as he did with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Pappano has revitalized the orchestra and chorus of the Santa Cecilia Academy. The chorus sings with the requisite power and intimacy while the orchestra is up to the demands of this demanding work, both as an ensemble and in the telling orchestral details.

The solo quartet--often the weak point in many performances--is as good or better than most. Soprano Anja Harteros almost steals the show. Her Libera me probably is the best since Leontyne Price's performance in the Fritz Reiner recording, and it's miles ahead of Joan Sutherland's petulant little-girl-pleading-for-salvation in the classic Georg Solti version. Harteros' voice is just big enough to inhabit the part, but it's lovely nonetheless; she nails the cruelly difficult B-flat in the Libera me, is luminous in the Agnus Dei, and is expressive throughout. In the ravishing Recordare duet with Sonia Ganassi the voices blend nicely, the mezzo copes well with her part's low notes, and she sings with feeling. As you'd expect, René Pape is outstanding, too, providing a firm foundation for the ensemble and varying his tone with telling effect in the Confutatis. Rolando Villazon is the weakest link in the foursome; a bit colorless in the Ingemisco, too throaty in the half-voice opening of the Hostias, and, like many tenors, he makes only the feeblest of stabs at the trills there. He's not bad, just not up to the best of his recorded predecessors.

The engineering sports enormous dynamic range, almost too much for home listening, where the choral opening is barely audible--and if the volume is boosted to hear it properly, then the start of the Dies irae will blast you out of your seat. However, if you're willing to twiddle with the volume, the great bass drum thwacks will thrill, and even at high levels the great dramatic choral parts of the Dies irae and Tuba mirum are as transparent as I've heard on recordings. There are many Verdi Requiems available, but Pappano's comfortably resides among the top handful.
Artistic Quality: 10
Sound Quality: 10
--Dan Davis, ClassicsToday.com

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AllMusic Review by James Leonard
Led with bare-knuckled aggression by Antonio Pappano, this performance of the Verdi Requiem misses no opportunity for moving musical heaven and earth. Played with visceral power by the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and sung with gripping terror by its chorus with a stellar cast of international soloists, this Requiem sounds, even more than most, like it belongs in an opera house. Pappano expertly evokes fear, awe, and majesty with an operatic flair. He manages the big moments with tremendous verve and deploys the soloists with maximum dramatic impact. Many earlier conductors' Requiems have gone for the operatic jugular -- Reiner's and Solti's, for example -- but it's a rare performance that transcends mere stage drama to rise to the level of a cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil, a performance like Toscanini's, for instance. Pappano's Requiem is undeniably immensely impressive, but it doesn't have the impact of Toscanini's utterly devastating version. EMI's digital sound is extremely loud and almost entirely lacking in nuance.

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Verdis »beste Oper« in internationaler Starbesetzung

Der Dirigent Hans von Bülow nannte Verdis Requiem eine »Oper im Kirchengewand«; viele halten die gewaltige Totenmesse sogar für Verdis »beste Oper«. Obwohl eindeutig eine Kirchenkomposition, durchwehen das Werk immense Dramatik und tiefe Emotionen, wie sie nur ein Italiener in Musik verwandeln konnte. Nur beste Opernstimmen, ein mit musikdramatischen Werken vertrautes Orchester sowie ein Spitzenchor können Verdis groß angelegtem Requiem gerecht werden.

Nun erscheint eine Neuaufnahme, die diesen Anforderungen auf höchstem Niveau gerecht wird. Rolando Villazón, Anja Harteros, Sonia Ganassi und René Pape: Schon die Solistenbesetzung bildet ein vokales Spitzenensemble; unter der Stabführung des wohl größten Opernmaestro unserer Zeit Antonio Pappano spielen und singen Orchester und Chor der römischen Accademia di Santa Cecilia – eine wahre Institution, wenn es um italienische Musik geht.

Giuseppe Verdi vollendete sein Requiem 1873 als Totenmesse zum Gedenken des kurz zuvor verstorbenen Dichters Alessandro Manzoni. Der international gefeierte Komponist legte in seine Partitur ein ganzes Drama großer Emotionen von Trauer bis Tröstung, von Verzweiflung bis Hoffnung. »Die Beziehung der Italiener zur Religion ist geradezu explosiv, temperamentvoll«, so Dirigent Pappano über das Werk, »und genau diese Haltung macht das Requiem so einzigartig.« Der Neueinspielung gingen gefeierte Aufführungen voraus: »Eine unvergessliche emotionale Reise«, bekannte die Kritikerin des römischen Corriere della Sera.

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Rezensionen

Stereo 11 / 09: "Antonio Pappanos Herangehensweise ist zupackend und emotional, das Werke lässt ihn hörbar nicht kalt. Umso erstaunlicher, dass besonders die leisen Stellen den nachhaltigsten Eindruck hinterlassen. Das wiederum liegt nicht zuletzt an dem wunderbar homogenen Solistenquartett aus vier herrlichen lyrischen Stimmen, die vor allem im 'Hostias' wahre Piano-Sinnenzauber vollführen."

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EMI 98936