Verdi: Messa da Requiem / Sylvain Cambreling

Verdi "Messa da Requiem"

Symphoniker Hamburg / Sylvain Cambreling

What a love-struck score: »Roméo et Juliette, dramatic symphony, with chorus, vocal solos and prologue as choral recitative, after Shakespeare’s tragedy, dedicated to Niccolò Paganini« – what a wealth of lyrical tones, what enchanting moments, even bizarre, irrational ones, what lush harmonies and ravishing melodic arcs! Its creator Hector Berlioz himself was in an exceptional state: »What a passionate life I led during this whole time! With what vigour I swam in this vast sea of poetry, caressed by the exuberant breeze of fantasy, under the warm rays of Shakespeare’s sun of love, and trusting in my strength to reach the wonderful island where the temple of pure art rises.« With »Roméo et Juliette«, Berlioz had – after a long search – finally created his symphonic theatre of dreams.

Symphoniker Hamburg / Monteverdi-Chor Hamburg / Sylvain Cambreling

The Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, also known as the Symphoniker Hamburg, is a German orchestra based in Hamburg. It was founded in 1957.

Symphoniker Hamburg / Jane Archibald / Szymon Nehring / Sylvain Cambreling

»That was my first work played by an orchestra and my first contact with a large audience. I was 22 years old at the time,« reports Olivier Messiaen. Les offrandes oubliées (The Forgotten Offerings) was composed in 1930 and premiered on 19 February 1931 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées by the Orchestre des concerts Straram under the direction of its chief and namesake Walther Straram. The »symphonic meditation« (the subtitle) is based on linguistically tangible yet abstract ideas. The texts were written by Messiaen himself. The themes of the three verses (Cross – Sin – Eucharist) can be understood as situations of contemplation, descent and rapture and form the three sections of the work.