Verdi Messa da Requiem. Recorded 2012 at the Teatro alla Scala. Daniel Barenboim conducts the Orchestra and Coro del Teatro alla Scala (Chorus Master Bruno Casoni). Soloists are Anja Harteros (soprano), Elīna Garanča (mezzo-soprano), Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), and René Pape (bass). Directed for TV by Andy Sommer; director of photography was Martial Barrault; sound engineer was Rodrigue Durand. Sung in Latin. Released 2013, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B
Wonk James Kreh provides the following review; thank you Jim!
In his recent review on the Classics Today website, Robert Levine called the CD edition of this recording a “grand Verdi Requiem”, although his rating of 8/9 (on a 10/10 scale) was tempered mostly by his perception that the audio was “fiercely digitized, i.e., slightly artificial. You get over it, even as you wonder how the solo voices and players manage to pop out of the dense fabric.” Perhaps his review and rating would have been more positive if he had auditioned the Blu-ray. On my system, in the high-resolution 48kHz/24-bit surround audio on the HDVD (the CD’s 44.1kHz/16-bit audio is not considered high-resolution), I hear none of the anomalies that he describes. There is an awesome dynamic range with stunning impact in the lower frequencies; the soloists and chorus are well balanced with the orchestra, sounding very much like what one would hear in a great concert hall. By the way, Mr. Levine’s comments about the performance itself are highly laudatory, and it’s really not clear to me why his “Artistic Quality” rating is 8 rather than 10.
This concert was given on August 27, 2012 in Milan’s sumptuous Teatro alla Scala (apparently the CD version was edited from a second performance as well), and represents an inspired, virtuoso performance by the orchestra, chorus, and, most notably, the four soloists. Elīna Garanča gives a particularly glorious rendition of the mezzo part (and how is it possible that she looks even more beautiful now than she did in the DG HDVD of The Opera Gala recorded five years earlier?). In the Dies irae, there are groups of three trumpeters positioned left and right in upper balcony boxes. They are seen and discretely heard (in the rear channels), with the surround effect being both musical and thrilling. All of these forces are impressively led (without a score) by Daniel Barenboim, who, at age 71, may be in the process of laying claim to the title of the World's Most Important Musician!
But the video coverage seems somewhat schizophrenic. Before discussing this further, it's time for some screenshots Here are soloists Harteros, Garanča, Kaufmann, and Pape in the left to right order they have as you see them on the stage. First the serene soprano Harteros:
The intense Garanča, providing further evidence that God might just turn out to be a woman:
The handsome Kaufman:
And the avuncular Pape:
Put these 4 superstars together and you get a marvelous quartet with Barenboim messing up the picture:
Here are three views of the chorus with a pretty girl the cameraman could not resist. If she will send us her name, we will we give her credit:
We fans of HDVD symphony concerts like to see views of the whole orchestra (which is a huge improvement over lower-resolution DVDs that can't show the whole orchestra well). But the picture below does not count as a whole orchestra shot because the image of the orchestra and chorus only takes up about half of the width of the screen or about 25% of the frame space available. There are about 32 whole-orchestra shots in subject video, but more than half of them are too long-range to have much value. These are "architecture shots" which direct your attention to the building rather than to the music:
The next 2 shots are somewhat better, but still not what you deserve. In one picture, the camera is too low to show well the depth of the orchestra. In the other picture, the camera is too high. Sommers never found a place to locate his cameras to get a really satisfactory view of the whole orchestra and chorus:
This may be best whole-orchestra view on the disc. This view only appears a few times and usually doesn't last very long:
There are, however, 44 part-orchestra shots that are mostly-decent and enjoyable:
Here is a nice shot where the second violins and violas are working together. This proves that Sommers could get section and multi-section shots with his cameras. Alas, we counted only about 20 of these (ignoring the 2-player sections):
When you flog your cameramen to produce 950+ clips in 88 minutes, they don't have much time to compose beautiful, trouble-free pictures (That's right, the picture changes in this video more than 950 times and the average clip lasts about 5.5 seconds.). So the cameramen resorted to easy or lazy tricks like 65 instrument-only shots and 192 shots of Barenboim conducting.
Since haste makes waste, it's not surprising there are 12 shots with gruesome focus and composition issues. You do not hang out your $3,000 suit for sale with buttons missing. Here the camera shoots down a row of 9 faces with about 20 inches of depth of field of focus:
Focus and composition errors:
I guess this was supposed to be yet another picture of Barenboim, but Kaufmann's head is in the way as well as the flailing arms and mallets of the tympani player:
Well, if you are familiar with our special article on the good HDVD video of a symphony orchestra, you know there is certainly some degree of DVDitis here, although nothing like the eccentricities foisted upon us in the guise of “creativity” by some video directors (Karina Fibich, are you listening?).
The video editing appears much of the time to be a function of the musical tempo at any given point in the work. For example, the Dies Irae begins with a storming of the heavens (track 4) for which Barenboim sets a perfect tempo, magisterially weighty but with an inexorable momentum. Here the video director apparently believes that exciting sounds must be matched by frenetic editing: I counted 52 cuts in the 2:28 duration of this section, with several shots actually lasting less than one second. In my opinion, this approach is totally misconceived. Why not let the music speak for itself? I would much rather have seen most of that 2:28 devoted to the full-stage views of the orchestra and chorus that are offered at 11:23 and 12:18, with a few close-up and mid-range shots inserted for variety. On the other hand, when Ms. Garanča opens the “Liber scriptus” segment (track 7) of the Dies Irae, the camera appropriately remains fixed on her for a full minute. Why couldn’t we have more coverage like this?
My summary description (modified from Mr. Levine’s) is that this is a stupendously grand Verdi Messa da Requiem. However, the final grade must reflect the realities of what is actually on the disc. The lack of Latin subtitles and the limited subtitles in translation will be problem for some. The huge dynamic range may mean that folks with modest playback gear will have to fiddle a bit with the volume control. For using audio that is less than SOTA (viz., 96kHz/24-bit), I will downgrade from an A+ to an A. But the biggest problem is the video that is wonderful at times and frustratingly afflicted with DVDitis at other times. This might in fact be the best video recording available now of the Verdi Requiem. The disc is a best-selling Blu-ray at the vendors. But it could have been substantially better.
Why does the recording industry continue to publish Blu-ray symphony discs that don't take full advantage of the HD cameras? It's probably not the fault of the artists or folks like Andy Sommers who direct the video. Record industry business managers still figure they can make more money making a DVD and then selling the Blu-ray version at a higher price on better resolution alone. They may be right. Maybe the market still isn't there to pay for Blu-rays shot separately from DVDs. All we can do is to grade down these spruced up DVDs. Then when the industry starts making really good symphony HDVDs. we can reward them with A+ grades.
Final grade = B
P.S. For those of you who don't know the text of the Latin requiem mass by heart, we have added an appendix with the Latin text and an English translation.
Here’s a trailer from Decca:
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Appendix
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I. Requiem and Kyrie Chorus: Quartet and Chorus: |
I. Requiem and Kyrie Chorus: Quartet and Chorus: |
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II. Sequence Chorus: Quantus tremor est futurus, Tuba mirum spargens sonum, Bass: Mezzo-soprano and Chorus: Judex ergo cum sedebit, Dies irae, dies illa, Soprano, Mezzo-soprano and Tenor: Solo Quartet and Chorus: Soprano and Mezzo-soprano: Quaerens me, sedisti lassus; Juste judex ultionis: Tenor: Qui Mariam absolvisti, Preces meae non sunt digne, Inter oves locum praesta, Bass and Chorus: Oro supplex et acclinis, Chorus: Solo Quartet and Chorus: Pie Jesu Domine: |
II. Sequence Chorus: How great will be the terror, The trumpet, scattering a marvelous sound Bass: Mezzo-soprano and Chorus: Therefore when the Judge takes His seat, The day of wrath, that day will Soprano, Mezzo-soprano and Tenor: Solo Quartet and Chorus: Soprano and Mezzo-soprano: In seeking me, you sat down wearily; Just Judge of punishment: Tenor: You, who absolved Mary Magdalen, My prayers are not worthy, Give me a place among the sheep, Bass and Chorus: I pray, suppliant and kneeling, Chorus: Solo Quartet and Chorus: Merciful Lord Jesus: |
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III. Offertorio Quartet: Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus. Libera animas omnium fidelum defunctorum de poenis inferni; |
III. Offertorio Quartet: We offer to you, O Lord, sacrifices and prayers. Deliver the souls of all the faithful dead from the pains of hell; |
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IV. Sanctus Double Chorus: |
IV. Sanctus Double Chorus: |
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V. Agnus Dei Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, and Chorus: |
V. Agnus Dei Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, and Chorus: |
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VI. Lux aeterna Mezzo-soprano, Tenor and Bass: Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis, |
VI. Lux aeterna Mezzo-soprano, Tenor and Bass: Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them |
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VII. Libera me Soprano and Chorus: Tremens factus sum ego et timeo, dum discussio venerit atque ventura irae, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra. Dies irae, dies illa calamitatis et miseriae; dies magna et amara valde. Requiem aeternam, dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda. Libera me, Domine, quando coeli movendi sunt et terra; Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna in die illa tremenda. |
VII. Libera me Soprano and Chorus: I tremble, and I fear the judgment and the wrath to come, when the heavens and the earth shall be moved. The day of wrath, that day of calamity and misery; a great and bitter day, indeed. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them. Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death on that awful day. Deliver me, O Lord, when the heavens and the earth shall be moved; Deliver me, Lord, from eternal death on that awful day. |