Sir Colin Davis’s series of choral masterworks continues with Verdi’s Requiem, a work that Sir Colin has been conducting for much of his long career. It is also his second recording of Verdi’s late-works for LSO Live, having previously conducted the Grammy Award-winning recording of Verdi’s Falstaff in 2004. He is joined by four superb soloists, three of whom have appeared on Sir Colin’s previous LSO Live recordings. Christine Brewer was a superb Leonore on Sir Colin’s acclaimed recording of Fidelio. Karen Cargill and John Relyea appeared on Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ and Benvenuto Celini respectively. Appearing on his first LSO Lice recording is the outstanding tenor Stuart Neill. The Requiem was recorded in January 2009 at concerts dedicated to Richard Hickox who had been President of the London Symphony Chorus and studied with Sir Colin before his own successful career. LSO Live has recently released recordings of Haydn’s Die Schopfung and James Macmillan’s St John Passion conducted by Sir Colin.
"The four soloists are equally impressive. Christine Brewer, singing with heroic splendour, takes no hostages with the various gifts Verdi presents to her, superlative as she soars into the ether in the ’Lacrymosa’, and at her commanding, dramatic best in the concluding ’Libera me’. Karen Cargill (who replaced Larissa Diadkova), a light, athletic mezzo who blends very satisfyingly in the ensemble passages, is very distinguished throughout the ’Dies irae’, and hair-raisingly good in ’Liber scriptus’ and ’Lacrymosa’. The men are more obviously Italianate and operatic: tenor Stuart Neill never looks back from a stunning first entry in the ’Kyrie’; and bass John Relyea has the authority of the Inquisitor and the darkness of Iago. The two tenor-and-bass arias in the ’Ingemisco’ are superb."
