OC checked out the latest series of la Verdi shows this weekend, slated as inaugural concerts to ink Maestro John Axelrod's newest collaboration as Principal Director with the Milan orchestra, duties split with Music Director Xian Zhang.
On Friday night, after a teaser of Mozart's delightful horn concerto 3 (with a strong performance from Croatian horn blower Radovan Vlatković) and a stunning Afterthought by Giorgio Battistelli, Mozart's Requiem Mass-terpiece took center stage with fab-four soloists. Axelrod's Requiem was a pious, compassionate departure from rapture and ph34r. More like a meditation, it was paced into introspective arcs with curious ideas that mostly worked despite its complete narrative. One of the bigger ideas was a dignified whisper to extinguish Lux aeterna instead of the usual slam. International soloists were anchored by Kiwi Martin Snell's booming bass. Mexican tenor Jesus Leon's lyric and charismatic voice worked well with Romanian soprano Theodora Gheorghiu (no relation!) Despite having the briefest role, Israeli mezzo Rinat Shaham's colorful, expressive voice brought an authoritative weight to the ensemble.