The bad news first: none of the soloists here is really satisfactory. Soprano Angela Gheorghiu is the worst offender, swooping up and down the scale with a vibrato you could drive a truck through. The other three do better (tenor Roberto Alagna is the of the lot), but even in their voices there’s too much sliding around the notes and too little awareness of the dignity that should go into the performance of any Requiem setting.
But for that, this would have been one of the piece’s all-time great recordings. At the time of this live performance — recorded on the centennial of Verdi’s death — Claudio Abbado was in the midst of a near-fatal bout with stomach cancer, and he looked so emaciated on the podium that many must have feared the Requiem would be for him. Yet his interpretation combines solemnity with high drama. Even in the most brutal moments, like the Dies Irae, the balances are so scrupulous that you can hear every detail. He’s aided by the excellent singing of three choruses — two Swedish, one Spanish — and by the astounding playing of the Berlin Philharmonic, which is second to none on record.
It may seem strange to recommend a recording with less than ideal singing, but Abbado’s total command of this work makes this one worth having. Moreover, EMI will donate a portion of the proceeds to a fund benefitting the widows and children of policemen and firefighters who died on September 11, and that’s another good reason to own it.