Italian blood and thunder in the most operatic of Requiems

By Mark Pullinger, 19 May 2014

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“Pappano whipped up the necessary fire and brimstone for the Dies irae with fierce energy”

Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 18 May 2014

Verdi, Messa da Requiem

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor

Hibla Gerzmava, Soprano

Sylvie Brunet-Grupposo, Mezzo-soprano

Joseph Calleja, Tenor

Carlo Colombara, Bass

Yunchan Lim, Daniel Harding and the Santa Cecilia in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 4th December

Daniel Harding and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia choose proportion over spectacle as their Asian tour reaches Seoul.

****1

Sir Antonio Pappano returns to Santa Cecilia for Mozart and Bruckner

Pia Maltri, 30th October

Now Director Emeritus of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Sir Antonio Pappano conducts the rarely heard Mass in F minor by Anton Bruckner.

****1

Lorenzo Viotti conducts the death and rebirth of Spring in music

Alissa Balocco, 8th February

The Swiss conductor returns to the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, presenting a triptych of pieces by Schumann, Debussy and Zemlinsky inspired by the season of renewal.

****1

Bereft blues as the Santa Cecilia and Hrůša play at Prague Spring

Frank Kuznik, 18th May

Lackluster Gershwin undercuts an otherwise impressive outing by Jakub Hrůša and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.

****1

Kirill Gerstein: a Mozartian master with the Santa Cecilia

Alissa Balocco, 25th January

The pianist enchants the audience with Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 20 in D minor, conducted by Leonidas Kavakos.

***11

Pappano and Levit take the Santa Cecilia on an incredible journey

Alissa Balocco, 2nd November

Levit offers impeccable Beethoven, while Pappano enchants the Rome audience with Cherubini and Sibelius.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.