Cleveland Orchestra Perform at Carnegie Hall

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 16 February 2026 16:07

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Chris Lee

At the wonderful Stern Auditorium, on the night of Tuesday, January 20th, I had the pleasure of attending a magnificent concert—the first of two on consecutive days—presented by Carnegie Hall and performed by the outstanding Cleveland Orchestra, magisterially led by Franz Welser-Möst. The work on the program was Giuseppe Verdi’s incomparable Requiem completed in 1874. The event featured a superb slate of soloists—including soprano Asmik Grigorian, mezzo-soprano Deniz Uzun, tenor Joshua Guerrero, and basso Tareq Nazmi—along with the excellent Cleveland Orchestra Chorus directed by Lisa Wong.

About this piece, which was composed in honor of the towering figure of novelist Alessandro Manzoni, Verdi stated that “This Mass is not to be sung in the way one sings an opera.” The initial Requiem section of the first movement is relatively subdued while the ensuing Kyrie is more expressionistic. The Sequence (Dies Irae) movement that follows begins with an exuberant and arresting Chorus that prefigures Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana; the basso then enters with a powerful, contrasting statement while the next section, for mezzo-soprano and chorus is more operatic as well as dramatic in character. As the movement unfolds, it reaches a kind of climax with the soloists and chorus which precedes an exceedingly beautiful duet for the soprano and mezzo-soprano. The Dies Irae chorus is recapitulated before another highly lyrical passage for the soloists and chorus.

The third movement, Offertorio (Domine Jesu Christe) is exalting, and the succeeding Sanctus is exhilarating, while the Agnus Dei is more austere on the whole but with some lush sonorities. The Lux aeterna has a gloomier ethos before its affirmative finish. The last movement, Libera me, opens quietly and then becomes suspenseful before a second recurrence of the Dies Irae. Thesetting of the verse, “Requiem aeternam dona eis, Donmine, et lux perpetua luceat eis,” has exquisite writing for the soprano. The final verse is the vehicle for a glorious and rousing fugue although it ends very softly.

The artists deservedly received a standing ovation.

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