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Messa da Requiem
Eleanor Lyons soprano
Sophie Harmsen alto
Ilker Arcayürek tenor
Tareq Nazmi bass
Collegium Vocale Gent choir
Antwerp Symphony Orchestra orchestra
Philippe Herreweghe conductor
Barely a month before the premiere of his _Messa da Requiem_, on 22 May 1873 in San Marco in Milan, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) wrote to his publisher Ricordi: ‘_You understand better than I myself that this mass must not be sung like an opera, and thus that the phrasing and dynamics that may be fine in a theatre won’t satisfy me at all, not at all._’ Clear words from a true opera composer who had written a requiem to honour his dead friend, the writer Alessandro Manzoni. It is transcendent, unique within his oeuvre and, according to Johannes Brahms, the work of a true genius.