With this performance the Operahouse La Monnaie in Brussell is presenting a concert production called Requiem, presenting Luigi Cherubinis second Requiem, the one in d-minor in a combinations with works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. All splendid leaded by Leo Hussain.

It all started with The “Freimaurer-Kantata, by Mozart, one of the very few Kantatas of that kind with only a male choir, here the great male choir of the La Monaie operahouse, and two soloists. Immediately I was in the Magic Flutemood, with the excellent good Mozart tenor Jeremy Ovenden and the base Giovanni Battista Parodi, who has his debut at La Monnaie with this production
. Furtherone Mozarts Linz Symphony no 36 in C. In fact the first performance of the “Frimaurer Kantate” composed to the openening of a new temple to his Freimaurers, November 18th 1791, was his last participation before his death. The name of the tenor number two was forgotten in the programme!!!

This was followed by Mozarts Symphony no 36, well played, filling up in the programme and showed the orchestre at its best in Mozart
.

After the break Jeremy Ovenden sung the Mozart koncert aria “Misero, o sogno! – Aura, che intorno spiri”, KV 431 from 1783 for tenor and orchester. In this we heard a real Mozart tenorwith all the variations of qualities  needed for this demanding voice type, beauty, gentle, power, dramatic. He has it all, and he has the experience, through for exempel that having sung the Tamino role in the Magic Flute, which during working with it gives the power to keep the very long tunes with beauty for an extraordinary long time, whoch is needed in this kind of Mozart arias. It was in deed a pleasure.

In Luigi Cherubinis Requiem that followed we specially enjoyed the well balanced Male Choir of the Monnaie Operahouse. .The Cherubini Requiem recorded here is the second of the composer’s two masses for the dead. It was written in 1834, shortly before the composer’s death, and it was played at his funeral. Written for male chorus and orchestra, it’s a remarkable work that occupies a very rare psychological space — it is subdued, suffused with a full knowledge of approaching death, and filled with refined sadness rather than religious calm. The work isn’t often heard. It sounded like the choire enjoyed to perform a concertversion, and when it is being repeted some times, which gives them a good posibility to work even deeper with the sound and the balance between the groups. I was clear that their choiremaster Stephen Betteridge has  done a good rehearsal work vith them to reach so wellbalanced and beautiful interpretation. The Requiem started beautifully with the Cellis, Bases – and Horns. The Graudale part following after the Introduction and Kyrie was tender and see through. The Requiem’s thorny problems of dynamic range; most of the work is very quiet, but when Cherubini comes to the Dies Irae he cuts loose with trumpets in a relentless vision of final judgment that matches anything in the more famous requiem masses by Mozart, Berlioz, and Verdi. Dies Irae was very brilliant and powerful. Dies Irae made us  nearly jumping out of our seats. The coir managed the big challenge very well. The choir gets the work’s unusual combination of solemnity and vocal tension. There are no soloists, and the choral writing is difficult in spots, but even some deadly high, quiet tenor parts sound good. It is demanding and it is interesting as a contrast, it is like Cherubini is having longer lines than Mozart, and too that Cherubini are using the contrapunct details as contrasting, which gives specially good effects to the sound.

Performed in Bruxelles 10-13. November 2010.

Cherubini requiem in d. Cover of Germany's Classico label

We would like to recommend a recording of the Requiem with the Hradec Králové Male Choir.  The disc is worth investigating, for the Requiemin d-minor.