Garry Fraser

Verdi’s Requiem has a special place in the hearts of music lovers. It’s simply called “The Verdi” – you never get “The Mozart” or “The Beethoven”.

It’s as near to an operatic sacred work as you’ll get, with one critic regarding it as “an opera in ecclesiastical robes” after its premier.

True, much of the music in a nonliturgical context could easily fit in with the dramas of Macbeth or Aida so it was perhaps fitting that the Edinburgh Usher Hall performance came from a combination deeply immersed in the operatic genre. The chorus and orchestra of Teatro Regio Torino and four principals are of similar calibre.

Conductor Gianandrea Noseda certainly has a nose for drama and suspense. The opening chorus was breathtakingly haunting, upping the ante with the introduction of the soloists. I was impressed with the chorus from the word go. They coped admirably with Noseda’s breakneck speed in the Sanctus and the final Libera Me but quality shone out during the performance.

There were one or two that jarred, however. The offstageonstage fanfare before the Tuba Mirum wasn’t perfect, there were the occasional nonchalant ends of phrases and Noseda’s toying with the tempi which didn’t sit well with me at all. If the chorus had operatic undertones, so did the soloists. Verdi supplies some beautiful solos, duets, trios and quartets, some of the best in any musical context.

They didn’t disappoint, especially tenor Giorgio Berrugi. Each had their moment of glory. For Berrugi, the Ingemisco, and for mezzo Daniela Barcellona the Liber Scriptus.

Bass Michele Pertusi turned everything he sang into gold and soprano Erika Grimaldi passed “the” test with flying colours, the unaccompanied final Requiem. I don’t think it was the best Verdi I’ve ever heard but any performance of this work is an exciting one.