Verdi: Requiem - Gheorghiu, Alagna, Barcellona, Konstantinov, Abbado (DVD)

For its sheer power and its precise balance of the two visions (epic and personal) embodied in Verdi's masterpiece, this is the Requiem to have. It would be hard to quarrel with anyone who chooses Leontyne Price in the 1967 Herbert von Karajan recording over Angela Gheorghiu, or Luciano Pavarotti over Roberto Alagna; the differences are slight and a matter of personal taste. But this is the most intensely dramatic of Verdi's works, including no less a climax than the flaming end of the world, and Claudio Abbado treats the composer's vision even more powerfully than von Karajan, with a magnificent orchestra and chorus at his disposal.
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A great performance gains from being seen.
Seeing makes a deal of differ ence here. Much as I enjoyed the CD issue of this performance, this DVD enables one actu ally to see how the recently sick Abbado conducts the work as if it might be the last thing he does (happily not the case). He looks gaunt and tense: that translates into a heaven-seeking, searing account of the work, one to which everyone taking part readily responds. All the singers and players perform as though their lives depended on the outcome, and the results are simply electrifying.
Praise cannot be too high for the two professional choirs or for the Berlin Philharmonic who, technically and emotionally, give their all. The soloists also seem on a devotional high, singing with appropriately spiritual fervour so that the incidental criticisms I made in my review of the CD seem of no importance. Bob Coles's video direction is always in the right place at the right time, and the sound perspective is as excellent as on the CD. My only quibble concerns the inadequacy of the accompanying booklet which tells us nothing of the import of the occasion or about the performers. Why cannot this aspect of DVD presentation be improved?
Alan Blyth for Gramophone

Giuseppe Verdi
Requiem

Angela Gheorghiu
Roberto Alagna
Daniela Barcellona
Julian Konstantinov

Swedish Radio Chorus
Eric Ericson Chamber Choir
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Claudio Abbado

Video director Bob Coles

Filmed during performances commemorating the centenary of Verdi's death, 25 & 27 January 2001
Editor: EMI (7243 4 92693)
DVD9
Video: NTSC / 29.97fps / 720x480 / 4:3 / Mpeg-2
Audio: LPCM 48 kHz / 5.1 / DTS 5.1
Language: Latin
Subtitles: Latin/It/En/Fr/Ge/Sp
Approximative time: 1h29min
Release date: 2001
Approximative size: 8.1GB