ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
PHILIPPE HERREWEGHE
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.