I am medically advised to be cautious about attending crowded public events, including Richmond Symphony concerts. The orchestra is making video streams of its Symphony Series performances available to ticket-holders. The stream of this program was posted on June 6.
Valentina Peleggi conducting
with Jennifer Rowley, soprano
Guadalupe Barrientos, mezzo-soprano
Rodrick Dixon, tenor
David Leigh, bass
Richmond Symphony Chorus
Baltimore Choral Arts Society
Since its premiere 150 years ago, Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem has been one of the reference settings of the Catholic Mass for the dead, and one of the premiere concert works for operatic voices. The Richmond Symphony’s season-finale performances accentuated both qualities, projecting the work’s spiritual fervor and dramatic potency with equal impact.
The orchestra engaged an outstanding quartet of soloists – soprano Jennifer Rowley, mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Barrientos, tenor Rodrick Dixon and bass David Leigh – and a 186-voice choir from the Richmond Symphony Chorus and Baltimore Choral Society, prepared by Richard W. Robbins, the Symphony Chorus’ new director.
Music Director Valentina Peleggi, a choral director before she took up orchestral conducting, crafted a Verdi Requiem that balanced subtle and sensitive treatment of vocal and orchestral parts – notably, unusually prominent wind solos and ensembles – with the punchy and thunderous outbursts of the Dies irae (Day of Judgment) theme that recurs in the piece.
The solo singers voiced both the contemplative and theatrically expressive tones of their parts, and formed a consistently complementary ensemble. Rowley’s impassioned solo in the final Libera me section and Dixon’s Heldentenor inflection of Ingemisco in the Dies irae sequence stood out, but they were among many highlights of the soloists’ contributions.
The orchestra was audibly attuned to the Mass text it was accompanying and to the plentiful mood-painting that Verdi packed into the score.
The symphony’s season finale also marked the farewell performances of Molly Sharp, retiring after 30 years as the orchestra’s principal violist.
The stream of this program remains accessible until June 30. Access: $30. Details: (800) 514-3849 (ETIX); http://richmondsymphony.com