Celebrated conductor Lorin Maazel, a young orchestra of outstanding
musicians, four high-caliber soloists and one of the great choral works of
musical literature - this alone would make this live recording of Verdi's
Requiem a stand-out document of filmed music. But there is more: the venue
of this grandiose performance, the Basilica of San Marco in Venice, with
its shimmering golden Byzantine mosaics framed by mighty pillars and
arches. Modeled on Constantine the Great's Church of the Holy Apostles in
Constantinople, the 11th-century basilica has been the workplace of many a
great musician in the past, such as Claudio Monteverdi, Adrian Willaert and
Giovanni Gabrieli.
Lorin Maazel, Music Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, is
also the Music Director of the Symphonica Toscanini, a young orchestra
founded in May 2006 that has performed under Zubin Mehta, Georges Prêtre
and Kurt Masur. "In recent tours of Europe and the U.S., the musicians
expressed their unique musical potential by playing so harmoniously and
compellingly as a group that they conquered every audience," said Maazel.
The recording also features distinguished soloists Norma Fantini, soprano
(title role in "Aida" at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, 2007); the young
Anna Smirnova, mezzo-soprano; Francesco Meli, tenor (Don Ottavio in "Don
Giovanni" at La Scala); Rafal Siwek, bass (Colline in "La Bohème" in
Florence). The Chorus of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino supplies a
masterfully nuanced vocal support.
When the great Italian author Alessandro Manzoni died in 1873, Giuseppe
Verdi expressed the wish to write a Requiem mass in his honor. The work was
premiered in Milan in May 1874, on the first anniversary of Manzoni's
death. The Requiem is emotionally intense, highly dramatic, often lyrical,
sometimes blatantly operatic, and always melodiously captivating -
qualities that are heightened here by the grandeur of the Basilica of San
Marco.
