First encounters and final judgments

One of the earliest pieces of music I immersed myself in when I first ventured into the world of classical music in the mid-1990s was Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem. Back then, my understanding of both classical music and Verdi was thin, cobbled together from scattered references in popular culture: the occasional aria, the familiar strains of La Traviata, and, of course, the terrifying grandeur of the Requiem’s “Dies Irae.” The sheer force with which Verdi summoned dread and divine judgment through sound was unlike anything I had ever encountered. Hearing it for the first time was a full-body experience that rivaled the raw energy I’d felt listening to bands like the Smashing Pumpkins.

I can’t say with certainty whether I’ve ever experienced the Requiem live in a concert hall. So when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced it would close out its season with this very work under the sure-handed direction of Riccardo Muti a part of me itched to be there. Alas, as often happens, other commitments intervened. While I don’t typically associate the CSO with Verdi, it’s worth noting the Requiem has occupied a meaningful place during the tenures of the orchestra’s last three music directors.

All of which makes it feel especially fitting that Muti—a conductor who arguably possesses a deeper, more intuitive grasp of the Requiem than almost any living conductor, and who understands its operatic core as a sweeping tale of salvation—should choose this piece to close out his two-week, end-of-season residency with the orchestra.

There are still three more chances to hear Muti and the CSO in Verdi’s Requiem.

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Review Roundup

Hannah Edgar for the Chicago Tribune

“These performances mark Donald Palumbo’s first appearances with the CSO since he was named the new director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. It was an auspicious outing, the choir sounding sculpted and notably unified in color and timbre. Basses rumbled in the “Rex tremendae” like a voice from a fissure in the earth; sopranos entered on the final “Libera me” canon with the precision of a single singer.”

Lawrence A. Johnson for Chicago Classical Review

“The roiling spiritual struggle of the mass was powerfully manifest. Yet on this occasion the conductor’s mastery of the score was more apparent in the restrained moments—the skillful balancing of the four trumpets with the two players offstage in the Tuba mirum, or the delicate charm of the three flutes’ pastoral gamboling in the Agnus Dei.

If anything, Muti’s interpretation of Verdi’s Requiem delved even deeper than previously. Tempos were broader overall—especially in the spacious Domine Jesu Christe—but the 90-minute journey never dragged in this highly dramatic performance.”

Kyle MacMillan for Chicago Sun Times

“It is customary in reviews to comment on the various contributors to a performance, and that will come later, but most striking here was the intricate interplay among the musicians, soloists and Chicago Symphony Chorus and how everything fit together as a seamless, organic whole.

Shaping it all was the 83-year-old maestro, who, in the fullest sense of that title, put all his musical wisdom, lifetime experience and sheer artistry to work in a most glorious way. Nothing was taken for granted. There was a sense that each phrase, each word, even each breath had been carefully considered.”