It’s typical of the famously agnostic Verdi that it took the death of an Italian politician to inspire a sacred commemorative work. The Requiem shocked contemporaries with its overtly operatic outbursts, but it can be a visceral concert experience, especially when singers and conductor are blessed with proper theatrical bones.
That was certainly the case with Ryan Bancroft, dynamic principal conductor of BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Eschewing a baton, his fluid hands and eloquent body-language urged the combined forces of the BBC National Chorus of Wales and the Crouch End Festival Chorus to heaven-assailing heights. Crunchy diction, virile fortissimos, and a palpable engagement with the text landed blow upon choral blow. With singers divided either side of the Albert Hall organ, the spatial sonics were thrilling.
Among the adrenaline-fuelled highlights were a hair-raising Dies irae, topped by shrieking piccolo and squealing trumpets. And if the offstage brass got a little lost in the maelstrom, there was no stopping the onstage chorus who sang up a cataclysmic storm in the Tuba mirum. An exhilarating Sanctus combined weight with a lacy fleet-footedness; the final fugue was electric.
The solo lineup was led by the incandescent American soprano Latonia Moore. Her superpower, it seemed, was an effortless ability to soar over 300 other voices. Abandoning the score entirely, she played the Libera me as an operatic scene of heart-rending intensity. Scottish mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill was equally magnetic, from silken top notes to imperious bottom. A preternaturally communicative singer, she had a personal message, it seemed, for everyone in the hall. Her sympathetic partnership with Moore was one of the evening’s bel canto glories.
Their male colleagues were noticeably more inclined to have their noses in the score. South Korean tenor SeokJong Baek has a clean, Italianate tone and ringing top notes. His Ingemisco was perfectly respectable, though short on emotional depth. Soloman Howard, a mighty-thewed American bass, grew in vocal stature as the evening progressed, formidable in the Mors stupebit but at his finest in the funereal Lux aeterna.
By way of contrast, the late-night Prom starred Jakub Józef Orliński and crack baroque band Il Pomo d’Oro. Over an hour-and-a-half, the irresistibly likable Polish countertenor ran the gamut from A to Z, embodying pining lovers, men on the verge, and one of those comical cross-dressing old ladies with which baroque opera abounds.
The voice was in magnificent shape, firm, flexible and easily ample enough to fill the cavernous space. The acting, across an unbroken dozen musical numbers, was bold and winning. Costumes, lighting, and yes, a burst of his trademark breakdancing, were all part of a generous mix that roamed across 17th-century Italy and beyond. Orchestral contributions were tight and tangy. In a word, stellar.
• Available on BBC Sounds. The BBC Proms continue until 14 September.
