BBCSSO, 21/03/2024

Verdi : Requiem

Miah Persson, soprano

Alice Coote, mezzo-soprano

Antonio Poli, tenor

William Thomas, bass

Edinburgh Festival Chorus

BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

Ryan Wigglesworth

I've said before in these reports that the Verdi Requiem is practically bulletproof.  The question then becomes one of degree; how successful has the performance been in transporting and enthralling you.  Tonight's performance generally pleased the audience, and on the whole was good, but the quality was not equally distributed all around.

Top of the heap, unquestionably, was the orchestra itself.  One or two slightly squeaked notes from the off-stage trumpets in the "Tuba miriam" aside, the playing was exceptional, full-blooded and richly coloured.  The brass was sumptuous, the woodwinds characterful (the oboe solo accompanying Poli in the last part of the "Ingemisco" was particularly eloquent), and I've rarely seen double-basses plucked with such implacable vigour as in the "Dies irae".  Apart from Wigglesworth's tendency to leave slightly too long gaps between certain movements, for my liking, at least, his direction of the whole proceedings was generally admirable, clear and concise, though maybe at the cost of a degree of fervour.

Less satisfactory, oddly, was the normally excellent Edinburgh Festival Chorus.  It's a little hard to define the exact problem; it certainly wasn't with any of the notes, and in quieter passages, they were as good as expected.  However, there were two sore points.  One was their entry in the "Libera me"; this passage is meant to be an exact echo of the soprano solo's entry, and both are marked sense misura, in free time.  However, the chorus sang it in a very measured, constrained fashion, quite differently from the soprano, and it sounded very odd.  That said, this is the second time I have heard that done in concert, and it is certainly something the conductor has required.  To my ears, it's a mistake, it throws the movement off, but it is maybe a new-ish fashion, and the chorus is only doing as asked.  The other thing, and that was much more serious, was that the "Dies irae" lacked attack and depth of sound.  It's not that the chorus wasn't able to do it, the fugue section of the "Libera me", which is just as vigorously explosive, was outstanding, but given how often the "Dies irae" theme returns, the weakness of attack was disconcerting.  

The quartet of soloists was interesting, and mostly very fine.  William Thomas, the young English bass I saw at the Cardiff competition last June,  confirmed the good impression I had of him then with a well-rounded tone.  The descending semiquavers of the end of "Mors stupebit" were perhaps not as firmly pitched as I would have liked, but otherwise it was a solid, assured performance.  Tenor Antonio Poli is a new name to me, but he has a very respectable CV, and once he had brought his vibrato under control, there was plenty of bright, ringing tone, and a genuine willingness to sing truly softly when required.  

Alice Coote, whom I know mainly from Baroque music, was interesting; on her own, the timbre was very clear, but in partnership with the others, it grew warmer and darker.  Wigglesworth let her get away with chewing the scenery rather in the "Judex ergo" - she seemed to be channelling the Witch of Endor - but the "Lux aeterna" which, for me, is the high point of the mezzo's part in the Requiem, was excellent.  Finally, Miah Persson is another very well-known name, but not in this repertory.  She is a much-acclaimed Mozart- and Straussian, and the quality of the voice is lovely, with beautiful, floating high notes.  However, for Verdi, the middle of the voice is a little on the thin side.  

Also, and this has been very rare in my experiences of the Requiem in concert, she and Coote began the "Agnus dei" a little flat, and by the time they had reached the end of the first verse (which is unaccompanied), they were almost a full semi-tone down.  In consequence, the chorus also came in flat, since they take their starting note from the soloists, and clashed badly with the orchestra also coming at that point, which was, to say the least, unfortunate.  Fortunately everyone recovered quickly, and it did not disturb the remainder of the performance, which concluded with both Persson's, and the chorus's best contributions.

[Next : 23rd March]