Symphony plays superbly as Levine conducts Verdi's Requiem
The Requiem of Giuseppe Verdi was a perfect vehicle on Saturday night for conductor Gilbert Levine and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to revisit their historic January collaboration at the Vatican in Rome for Pope John Paul II's "Concert of Reconciliation."
Both Verdi's Requiem and Gustav Mahler's Second Symphony, which was performed at the Vatican, are masterpieces on the largest scale, not merely in duration and the large number of performers they employ.
Verdi's music is based on the Catholic liturgy of the Mass for the Dead, while Mahler set a poem about resurrection for his finale. But both express the widest range of human emotions in music of incredible beauty and power at the service of spiritual content.
Saturday's generally impressive performance featured excellent singing by the Mendelssohn Choir, with particularly admirable diction that made the words reach the listeners. The Pittsburgh Symphony played superbly. Co-principals, such as bassoonist David Sogg, handled the many instrumental solos with artistry.
Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky was thrilling leading a vocal quartet that was much stronger than the one that sang for former music director Mariss Jansons at the symphony's previous performance of the material in 1997. Radvanovsky's big, rich voice soared over the orchestra and her portamenti, gliding to the next note rather than singing a clean interval, were artfully accomplished.
Radvanovsky and mezzo-soprano Marianne Cornetti sang their treacherous octave passages in the "Agnus Dei" with good intonation. Both were outstanding in Pittsburgh Opera's 1999 production of Verdi's "Il Trovatore." Cornetti, making her overdue Pittsburgh Symphony debut, was impressive in many passages. The orchestra was too loud in accompanying the singers throughout the performance. The singers had the additional disadvantage of being placed behind the orchestra rather than at the front of the stage.
The men were variable. Tenor Jerry Hadley brought wonderful style to his solo and ensemble performance, using the affecting sob that was Beniamino Gigli's trademark and also offering fine trills. But bass John Relyea was uncharacteristically ill-focused in the use of his big voice.
Levine favored slow tempi, and responded more to Verdi's requests to slow down and fade away than to the composer's instructions at other places to move faster and with more animation. To Levine's credit, the brass never played too loudly. Some of his slow tempi gave weight to feelings usually heard in a different perspective. But the "Sanctus" was much too slow and the final "Libera Mea" dragged.
Heinz Hall was decked out with video displays and several panels of media coverage, photos and other memorabilia of the trip to Rome. The large number of people who arrived close to starting time, overwhelming the box office and causing the concert to be delayed by 15 minutes, had an opportunity to see the displays at intermission.
The intermission break after the "Dies Irae," justified in part because Verdi took one when conducting his Requiem in London, broke the continuity of the music. But the magic of Verdi's Requiem was instantly reignited at the start of the "Offertorio" by the solo the for cello section that the Pittsburgh Symphony musicians played so beautifully Saturday night.
