Classical Music
The New York Philharmonic's four-night run of performances of Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem this week and next revives the requiem mass that has more of an upbeat tone than the average high school pep rally before a game for the state championship.
Although grand and mysterious, the piece is never solemn, never sedate. Written in response to the death of 19th century Italian pulp novelist Alessandro Manzoni-an author in the Tom Clancy and James Clavell mode-a writer Verdi idolized-the piece came under almost immediate attack after its 1874 premiere.
Philharmonic maestro Lorin Maazel is famously uneven and prone to fussiness with the baton, but with the massive scoring the Requiem calls for, these faults are apt to be set aside. Although there's a pre-concert talk, the mass is being performed at an early start time on three of the four nights (and without accompanying works on any night), so you're apt to get home at a reasonable hour.