Berlioz: Requiem
Throughout the history of classical music, certain works have been created that require an enormous number of performers and a large resonant space for their sound to be heard properly. Before Müpa Budapest opened its doors, Hungary had no venue worthy of presenting pieces like this. The list of such pieces includes Mahler's second and eighth symphonies, Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie, and Schönberg's Gurreliedere - along with two pieces by Berlioz: his Te Deum and his Requiem The latter is the most grandly massive example ever created in its genre. Hearing this work without any acoustic compromises having to be made will be an exhilarating experience!
In a career beset with failures, Berlioz enjoyed the sweet taste of success with his Requiem. It verged on the miraculous that he received a commission from the French government to create a score for the exact same liturgical text that he had long yearned to set to music. Naturally, this entire story involves some difficulties: the commission would later be revoked, reducing the composer to a state of poverty for some time. But eventually the ministry's commission was reinstated, and on 5 December 1837, the work was given its first airing at the Dôme des Invalides in Paris - to overwhelming acclaim. Berlioz's Requiem is both a monumental encounter with death and an epic Romantic vision. Michael Spyres, the American tenor featured in this concert, also sang the same part at the performance of the work that was conducted by Berlioz specialist John Nelson at Saint Paul's Cathedral in London on 8 March 2019. The bicentenary of the composer's birth.
Conductor: Howard Williams
Featuring:
tenor
Michael Spyres
Hungarian National Choir (choirmaster: Csaba Somos)
Hungarian Radio Choir (choirmaster: Zoltán Pad)
Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
