The Nashville Symphony's Search Continues:
José Luis Gómez and Verdi’s Requiem
The Nashville Symphony’s latest classical series performance was not one to miss. The orchestra and choir joined forces alongside soloists Katie Van Kooten, Kelley O’Connor, Rodrick Dixon, and Chris Humbert to bring Verdi’s Requiem to the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. The colossal work premiered over 150 years ago in 1847 and has maintained regular performances ever since. It follows a funeral mass structure with some additions. It offers an Introit, Dies Irae, Offertorio, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Lux Aeterna, and the Verdi original Libera Me, all of which span over an hour in length with truly breathtaking music. The idea for the requiem was that it would serve as a multi-composer tribute to the legendary Italian composer Gioachino Rossini. However, several of the intended collaborating composers weren’t able to finish their parts in time for the intended premiere date. Verdi kept the part he had composed, which would become the Libera Me, when he composed the rest of the movements of his Requiem for the Italian author, and his friend, Alessandro Manzoni.
The Introit begins as a whisper in an ominous minor mode which slowly grows into the Kyrie section featuring several of the soloists early in the piece. The second movement is The Dies Irae and is most definitely the most famous part of the piece. Many would consider the loud opening section as the piece’s “signature” with how recognizable it has become and how often it returns throughout the piece. Between the loud bass drum, aggressive attacks from the strings and horns, and the piercing choir, the entrance of this theme would take any unsuspecting listener by surprise. The entirety of the Dies Irae lasts almost 40 minutes, over half the length of the entire piece, and features an off-stage trumpet quartet emulating the final trumpets on judgement day.
This movement also features a quartet style section with the soloists and two incredibly beautiful solos in the tenor and bass. Rodrick Dixon and Chris Humbert were phenomenal in their solos and blended well with the orchestra and choir. The third movement is the Offertorio and once again the soloists combined forces for a quartet style movement without the chorus. This quartet featured Kelley O’Connor and Katie Van Kooten heavily. Their powerful alto and soprano voices filled the hall and it sounded exquisite. The chorus returns forcefully for the fourth movement, Sanctus. Van Kooten and O’Connor return for an acapella-esque introduction to the Agnus Dei fifth movement. The following Lux Aeterna features three of the soloists, O’Connor, Dixon and Humbert creating a very fascinating timbre between upper and lower voices. The final movement features Van Kooten heavily as she leads the orchestra with her soprano voice before the return of the Dies Irae and conclusion following.
The entire work was executed greatly and sounded fantastic. I was originally a little concerned that there may be some issues with blending the chorus, orchestra and soloists. Luckily the soloists had microphones in front of their seats and that was able to help them be heard throughout the performance. I’m unsure how big of a difference it would’ve made without the microphones, Humbert especially sounded like he may not have needed it. His healthy bass voice echoed through the hall and was one of the strongest and most impressive aspects of the performance. Every soloist was impressive, I especially liked Van Kooten’s ability to seemingly converse with the other soloists with her lines. Even though this was a funeral mass, it at times sounded like an operatic conversation. The orchestra was also fantastic. I typically find the low brass to be too strong or even overpowering but they seemed very aware of their roles across the entire piece. During the Dies Irae they were booming in syncopation with the bass drum and were very warm and melodic in the Sanctus and Agnus Dei.
I thought the trumpets were also outstanding, especially in their sectional solos in the Dies Irae. The sudden shifts from full ensemble to solo trumpet that built into a quartet was executed flawlessly. The off-stage trumpets did not carry the same effect for me. I was aware of there being off stage trumpets written into the piece but almost forgot until the very end when they came onto the stage to take a bow. I’m not even sure where they had them stationed whether they were amongst the crowd or backstage on a microphone. The effect could have been much greater had they been placed around the balcony or perhaps conductor José Luis Gomez made a more exaggerated movement to signal the distant trumpets. Other than this, Gomez was very entertaining to watch as a conductor. When the soloists weren’t actively singing it was hard to take your eyes off him.
He seemed especially aware of the magnitude of this piece and his conducting movements reflected this, and he seamlessly was able direct attention from the orchestra to the chorus when needed. Bravo to Gomez for staying strong throughout the marathon that is this piece. I also found the chorus impressive amongst all the other aspects of the performance. I had never been able to go to a performance like this with full orchestra and chorus before this one and I was shocked at the combined strength of the two. What was even more shocking was how quiet they could become despite the number of performers contributing to the sound at once. I was very pleased with this first introduction to an outstandingly large ensemble such as this one.
The whole experience was very pleasing and I greatly enjoyed the performance. At times you could tell how tired the performers were and it should be noted how taxing performing this huge piece three nights in a row can be and how much more impressive that the Saturday night performance was still so great. Overall the night was a major success, I am very eager for my next chance to hear the Nashville Symphony and Chorus combined or even any one of the soloists from the concert.
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My name is Brennan Wagner, I am currently a Music Industry student at Middle Tennessee State University and planning on pursuing Musicology in graduate school. I am from Nashville and have been playing saxophone for almost 10 years and love attending local concerts of all genres.
