Bass Ildebrando d'Arcangelo joins in on the dark-hued "Rex tremendae" that follows. In the lovely "Quid sum miser," a bassoon and clarinet both anticipate and mirror the fragile trio spun out by soprano Eva Mei, mezzo Bernarda Fink and tenor Michael Schade. But the enduring virtues of this performance come in the shadings and subtleties Harnoncourt reveals. Right away, after a quietly opulent "Kyrie," he elicits from his Wiener Philharmoniker players fiery brass fanfares and tympani hammer blows in the brilliantly marshaled frenzy of the "Dies irae." The dramatic tension remains carefully deployed right through the closing "Libera me," with its high-contrast dynamics and reverently whispered final notes. Harnoncourt isn't shy of the work's exclamatory vigor.
Scores of showy, over-the-top performances over the years have only reinforced the notion that the composer of "La Traviata" and "Il Trovatore" had somehow violated the solemn calling of a Requiem Mass. Vilified as indulgently operatic at its 1869 premiere, Verdi's impassioned sacred setting has never fully shed its initial reputation.
In fury and calm, soul-scouring agony and hope, the music comes across with conviction, surety of touch and a warmly radiant lucidity. In this superbly judged account of Verdi's Requiem, conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt (left) avoids the snares of this famous, often misapprehended work.
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