Verdi Requiem by Verdi, Alkaen (2019/2019), Musiikinjohto Teodor Currentzis, Philharmonie de Paris, Paris, France

For personal reasons, mezzo-soprano Hermine May was forced to cancel her participation in this concert. Varduhi Abrahamyan kindly agreed to replace her. Originally sketched as a tribute to Rossini, Verdi's Requiem Mass was ultimately completed in honor of the Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni. Greek conductor Teodor Currentzis gives a very personal reading of this masterpiece of the sacred repertoire. When Gioachino Rossini died in Passy on November 13, 1868, Verdi launched a major project calling on twelve Italian composers to compose a grand requiem paying tribute to him. The project failed for essentially material reasons. Verdi, however, retained the Libera Me , and on the death of Alessandro Manzoni, he used the material to fashion a grandiose Messa da requiem , this time alone. The premiere took place on May 22, 1874, in the medieval church of San Marco, a few hundred meters from La Scala. The score contains passages of prodigious force and great originality, such as the famous off-beat timpani strokes in the Dies Irae . Teodor Currentzis, who founded the musicAeterna ensemble in 2004, offers a version in his image: both rigorous and daring.