Celebrating its 25th anniversary season, the all-volunteer chorus of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra shone Friday night in the work that marked its beginning — Giuseppe Verdi’s powerful, ageless “Requiem.”
From the slow, somber start, Music Director Jeffrey Kahane portrayed the work’s dramatic force, which also permeates the composer’s familiar operas.
Kahane’s musical guidance of the chorus, in particular, brought forth the brilliant cohesion of its finely honed voices. The maestro’s keen direction of the orchestra and soloists further shaped and illuminated the fervently spiritual themes of the Mass, no matter that Verdi himself was a religious skeptic.
Intended for the concert hall, not a church setting, the approximately 84-minute Mass — performed straight through, sans intermission — is ambitious and exquisitely balanced in orchestration.
At times, the volume and intensity of the abundant cast of musicians thundered throughout Boettcher Concert Hall like tidal waves; other, more delicate, passages were warmly, much more gently executed.
Although overpowered on occasion by the orchestra and 200-plus voices in the chorus, the four soloists also held their own in a collectively moving and triumphant performance. The timbre, tone and other vocal stylings of soprano Jonita Lattimore, mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby, tenor Arturo Chacon-Cruz and bass-baritone Nathan Berg were noticeably distinct — even dissimilar.
Maultsby’s vibrato was arguably exaggerated, whereas Chacon-Cruz’s delivery was direct and adorned. As well, it didn’t initially seem that Berg’s spacious, resonant bass would blend with Lattimore’s light, luminous soprano.
But blend they did, with only a few passing exceptions. Particularly memorable was the familiar, “Dies irae,” including a poignant, downright beautiful duet between Lattimore and Maultsby. Lattimore scored again with her breathtaking, soaring sustained note in the middle of the “Offertorium” movement.
The three lower voices conveyed a compelling sense of urgency in the “Communio” movement, upon which Lattimore’s stunning delivery of the “Libera me” brought the Mass to its climax, only to dissipate into a muted, ardent prayer.
High marks also to the CSO’s brass section for its bright, brash performance, as well as Duain Wolfe, chorus founder and director.
The program at the Denver Performing Arts Complex repeats at 7:30 tonight and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
