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Süddeutsche Zeitung, München - performance date April 13, 1976 |
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EASTER FESTIVAL
IN SALZBURG |
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The great evening: Verdi's dead mass Requiem under Karajan |
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Requiem under Karajan |
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English Translation © Maria Kozlova |
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Verdi's "Messa da
Requiem" under Karajan: an experience of technical brilliance and
expressiveness. Looking back at the former performances of old monumental
dead masses at the Salzburg Festival, one can say Karajan now represents the
unique tradition created by Arturo Toscanini, Victor de Sabata and Dmitri
Mitropulos. One can also say that he combined in himself the characteristics
of each of his great predecessors who conducted Verdi's Requiem: enormous
dramatic tension and artistic vividness of both Italians and all-absorbing
passion of the Greek. After Karajan releases
the crushing blows of "Dies irae", when triplets in the choir
recitation become a rhythmical symbol of earthquake opening the graves, and
when the wood-wind and trumpets tune up after the falling chromatic
sixteenths of the strings, one can hear "weeping and gnashing of
teeth" and see the despair of those who fear damnation, like on frescos of
the Last Judgement by Luca Signorelli in the cathedral of Orvieto. And probably
an even more powerful effect than the terrible vision created by Verdi's
dramatic imagination is that of the bass solo "Mors stupebit" interrupted
by intermittent "heartbeats" of the strings and the big drum. Who
wouldn't this shake to the bottom of the heart? Karajan together with
the Berliner Philarmoniker and the Music Lovers society choir of Vienna
(great compliments to their leader Helmut Froschauer) not only impresses the
listeners with frightful visions inspired by murals of the Italian Campi
Santi. He breathes wonderful new life into the Requiem's inner sound image,
that of petition and prayer, hope and despair, without terrible phantoms,
sensibly models it through the choir, and differentiates it in the
accompaniment of the soloists' ensemble (example: cellos in the
"Offertorio"). Then the Sanctus fugue rushes by like a waterfall of
faith and trust. It is the only piece of pointed authenticity. Karajan puts
it up as a thrilling alla breve monument. The performance that
will be repeated on Good Friday became the culmination of the Easter Festival
also thanks to the soloists' quartette. The four voices one could hear at the
Great Festival Hall seemed to be made for this unique combination of high
expressiveness and perfect singing standards, of belcanto and spirituality
required here. Montserrat Caballe's ethereal soprano, Fiorenza Cossotto's
alto sounding like steel (both voices wonderfully blended in octave in Agnus
Dei), brilliant, flexible and capable of hushed pianissimo tenor of Jose
Carreras (about this young Spaniard we will surely hear again more than
once), and the rich profound bass of Jose van Dam. An inappropriate outburst of applause after
the final Libera me was at first prevented from spreading, but it gathered
strength for a while and broke loose again. After an hour and a half of
strained attention one bid farewell of the great Festival evening. |
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K. H. Ruppel |