As of: March 26, 2024, 4:44 p.m
By: Markus Thiel
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Sir Antonio Pappano is conductor in residence at this year's Salzburg Easter Festival.
© Erika Mayer
It is another triumph after the premiere of “La Gioconda”: Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi's Requiem at the Easter Festival - with a somewhat unsteady solo cast.
When the graves open and the judge of the world takes his seat, accompanied by heavenly trumpets, then it gets loud.
In every setting of the Latin Requiem, and especially in Giuseppe Verdi.
Here you look at the ceiling of the Great Festival Hall in shock: Is it trickling down?
Are there cracks?
It rarely sounds as intimidating as Sir Antonio Pappano's “Tuba mirum” in Salzburg.
But that's how it should be, like many other things on this Easter Festival evening.
Verdi's “Messa da Requiem” is part of the DNA of the choir and orchestra of the Roman Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and it jumps out at you from every beat.
Again, like the opera premiere of “La Gioconda”, everything is a triumph for Pappano and his ensembles, with which he is associated as conductor honorary after his departure last year.
This year, as is well known, they are guests of the Easter Festival, which will rely on Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2025 - before the Berlin Philharmonic with Kirill Petrenko returns to their former exclusive festival in 2026.
Pappano is the friendly extremist: This evening the dynamic spectrum ranges widely, from choir whispers and cello lines at the threshold of hearing to eruptions.
And that's where the great stylist and craftsman Pappano comes into play: Nothing is just an effect.
Unlike Daniele Gatti recently with the Munich Philharmonic, Pappano does not get bogged down or contrived.
He also knows the subtleties, but doesn't get lost in the forest of details.
Drama without being drastic
This Requiem sounds less like a late work, everything has traction, is agile, flexible and yet as if plugged in with a nuclear power plant.
Verdi's melos is allowed to unfold, but never becomes an end in itself.
Pappano does not create drama through drastic and harsh exaggerations, but rather through instrumental mixtures.
Pappano's view is similar to that of his older colleague Riccardo Muti (even if he has slowed down a lot with this work): Verdi says enough without any help, you just have to allow it.
As coherent as it all is, the vocal side becomes uneven.
The physically strong Roman choir, reinforced by the Salzburg Bach choir, would have liked to have been able to form a few more consonants.
Mezzo-soprano Judit Kutasi sings unbalancedly and starts with several voices.
Luciano Ganci grinds his way through the tutti with a narrow tenor, but is a safe bet and also has piano tones up his sleeve.
Bassist Michele Pertusi remains outstanding, precisely because he remains a completely relaxed stylist.
Soprano with star potential: Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha.
© Elma Vacek
Soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, who received the Herbert von Karajan Prize after the concert with her colleagues Lise Davidsen and Eve-Maud Hubeaux, sings with a huge prognosis.
The 30-year-old undoubtedly has star consciousness, as well as a dark, substantial, wide-spreading voice.
But the South African likes to have a distinctive, even irritating beat too low (and that doesn't just mean the mean top note in “Libera me”).
At one point Pappano has to maneuver her and Kutasi to the correct height with clear movements.
Just festival jitters?
Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha is currently booked for first-class locations such as London, Chicago and Rome.
You are guaranteed to meet her again in Salzburg.