Almost time for Verdi's Requiem (and attendant hoopla)

I am so looking forward to this Friday's performance of the "Requiem" by Guiseppe Verdi. The ASU Choral Union will perform along with several other ASU choirs. Also the ASU symphony orchestra, which always sounds great. And four soloists.

Also exciting is that Kerry is flying in from the East Coast for the event, and some visiting in general. And bringing a pal (Luis) along. We hope to make the show worth their trip.

The various "Requiem" Masses are inherently powerful stuff just based on the subject matter (I wrote about this back when we did Maurice Durufle's Requiem in April 2006, see post of April 15 by clicking here). From what's been said during our rehearsals and what I've read (mostly via this link in the latter case), Verdi's version is more operatic and dramatic.

I like the Wikipedia author's reference to "[t]he terrifying (and instantly recognizable) "Dies Irae"." Also in the "Dies Irae," the author notes that the trumpets "surround the stage to produce an inescapable call to Judgement (sic) in the "Tuba mirum" (the resulting combination of brass and choral quadruple-fortissimo markings resulting in some of the loudest unamplified music ever written)." The "Agnus Dei" has wonderful lyrical passages, and the soprano soloist in the "Libera Me" has a haunting melody that stays with the listener. Not to mention that the opening "Requiem and Kyrie" is probably my single favorite movement. This should be really good.

Now if we can just figure out how to be reasonably hospitable to our guests given that the house is increasingly torn up and will get worse before it gets better. Maybe I need to check on the old tent (the one that the wind started blowing around down in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in the early 90s).