Furlanetto injected chilling intensity into his Mors stupidit, and colored each word and phrase with thrilling precision. While their voices sometimes lacked power to ride above the orchestra, both put their extensive experience singing Verdi to good use. Two of the soloists excelled in this regard: soprano Krassimira Stoyanova and bass Ferruccio Furlanetto. Serbian baritone Željko Lučić once remarked that a good Verdi singer must possess two essential qualities: vocal color, rich and clean, and fine legato to sustain Verdi’s melodies. Stripped of the staging, props and costumes of an opera, the singers must demonstrate that they can negotiate a wide vocal range whilst imbuing meaning to the text. Verdi’s vocal writing for the four soloists is just as unforgiving and demanding as in his operas. We, the audience, were ready to be taken on a wrenching journey, seeking catharsis for our sorrow at the premature silence of a glorious voice. They represent mankind’s struggle to comprehend life and death, more questioning of the meaning of suffering, sometimes in anger and frustration. The words and music are not simple prayers for the dead or appeals to God for eternal peace. The lengthy Dies irae and the final Libera me were taken from other religious sources. Verdi wrote it to honor Alessandro Manzoni, an author who was closely associated with Italy’s unification movement. The Requiem may take most of its text from Catholic Mass for the Dead, but the music is dramatic and emotional. All four performances have been dedicated to his memory. Little did we know that the run of Requiem would become a fitting tribute to Dmitri Hvorostovsky, the Russian baritone who excelled in so many Verdi roles and who died two days before the first performance of the Requiem. When the Metropolitan Opera announced early this year that a planned new production of Verdi’s La forza del destino was being replaced by four concert performances of his Requiem, many opera fans bemoaned the lost opportunity to experience one of Verdi’s elusive masterpieces.
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