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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2008 > June > 23 > Entry
Review: Verdi’s Messa da Requiem
Grammy-nominated Austin chorus Conspirare often defies — what other superlatives to praise the vocal ensemble led by Craig Hella Johnson?
With Conspirare’s performance of Verdi’s Messa da Requiem Saturday night at the Long Center, we can add ‘profound’ to the list.
Johnson, the 200-plus member chorus, four soloists and the orchestra made transcendent a musical masterpiece already considered a stroke of Verdi’s genius in concentrated form. And Johnson concentrated that genius even more into a mesmirizing 90-minute musical miracle.
Perhaps that’s because as transcendent as the performance itself was the glorious sound of the acoustically-smart Dell Hall. To be sure, Johnson demonstrated that he has a clear mastery over the new hall, bringing the edge of the proscenium as far out into the hall as the flexible staging system would allow and even placing trumpet players in orchestra-level boxes for the dramatic ‘Tuba mirum’ movement.
The result was spine-tingling clear and rich sound that had a fullness and liveness never heard in Austin before. For years, Austin audiences have had to put up with inferior-sounding fine arts halls, Bass Concert Hall being the most prominent. Bass swallowed sound, altogether deadening it at times. (Bass it is currently undergoing renovations that include planned improvements to the acoustics.) Dell Hall celebrates and distinguishes every note, giving each palpable resonance that extends to the very farthest row.
Of course, none of the superior acoustics matter unless the performance itself is not also superior as Johnson’s emotionally-charged interpretation proved Saturday. (Johnson and the ensemble performed the Requiem Friday night in Victoria as part of the 2008 Victoria Bach Festival of which Johnson is artistic director.)
Verdi’s Requiem is an emotional rollercoaster, rocketing back and forth between disparate moods and musical colorations. It’s magnificent pictorial sweep has the potential to overwhelm. But when its dramatic depth is smartly plumed, as Johnson did Saturday, the Requiem’s emotional force can pack an enormous and meaningful whollop. And this was a Requiem performance to be reckoned with: the smaller moments of light and peace perfectly underpinning the rolling, wild waves of sadness and fright that form the backbone of Verdi’s funeral tribute.
The quartet of soloists — soprano Kallen Esperian, mezzo-soprano Robynne Redmon, tenor Karl Dent and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn — each delivered richly-rewarding performances with their combined talents making the quartet work on the ‘Lacrymosa’ achingly beautiful. Redmon sounded particularly resonant and Esperian deftly handling the considerably challenging ‘Libera me’ solo at the finale.
Johnson has never not delivered an emotionally resonant performance. But with his Requiem on Saturday, he created a singularly majestic moment.
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By Cheryl Gilley
June 25, 2008 6:55 PM | Link to this
My nephew is a member of the Conspirare chorus and had invited me to listen in to the radio broadcast of Verdi’s Requiem through my computer. Assuredly, we get to hear nothing of such beauty and perfection here in Wichita Falls; so it was an unexpected pleasure to eavesdrop on this magnificent performance. The presentation sounded wonderful - albeit second-hand; I can only imagine what it was like to have had the privilege to be in the audience. Thanks to KMFA for enabling us to listen in.