13 Nov 2005: Pierluigi Petrobelli talks about Verdis Requiem (18.00).

At the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, Verdis Requiem will be performed (12, 14, 16 Nov) with the choir and orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di S. Cecilia. Soloists include Tamar Iveri, Sonia Ganassi, Giuseppe Sabbatini and Ildar Abdrazakov, conducted by Antonio Pappano. Verdi wrote the work to commemorate the death of Alessandro Manzoni. However, he wrote it as an opera composer, even inserting an extract from his Don Carlos, turning it into the teary tune sung by the bass. Despite these operatic influences, the Requiem is profoundly spiritual: a great fresco of the emotions, fears and anxieties of a wounded humanity crying out for redemption.

Paolo Di Nicola