Requiem 1970Edinburgh International Festival
Read more about the opera Requiem, op89, B165
No excuse is needed to perform this wonderful Requiem, commissioned for the Birmingham Festival of 1891, when the hugely popular composer conducted the premiere. Dvořák's choral masterpiece is sadly under-rated and rarely heard, even at the Edinburgh Festival, with its wonderful resident chorus. They need to do it more often.
The great exiled Hungarian Antal Dorati was long associated with these Stockholm forces, and must have given highly regarded performances on home territory. Otherwise there seems little reasoning behind this event, other than the fact that the Prague National Theatre were in the middle of a two-week residency up the road at the King's but had not brought any operas by this particular Czech master.
The solo quartet was the best that Sweden had to offer, and the orchestra's concert two evenings before had more obviously Scandinavian content. So - pure enjoyment for a Saturday night in the Usher Hall to end the second week of the Festival - and what could possibly be wrong with that?
