The Libera me movement reveals the vision for the entire work to come. The Dies irae, a fresco of the Last Judgement, the fugue - one employing craftsmanship of the highest order - that closes the movement, and the dialogue between the soloist and the chorus, a startling communal prayer which depicts the harmony between the individual and the community, define the musical thinking behind the work.
When setting liturgical works to music, composers of the Romantic era used increasingly dramatic contrasts, with their method of composition becoming more and more visual in nature. With Verdi, this primarily entails operatic dramaturgy and a series of opera-like scenes. The number of vocal ensemble pieces in the Requiem - quartets, trios and duets - is proportionately decidedly quite high compared to an opera. The composer consciously uses the a cappella singing of the vocalists to depict uncertainty, doubt and desolation. As in his grand historical operas Nabucco, Don Carlo and Aida, Verdi handles the chorus as a monumental means to express, at different times, both crowd scenes and emotions that bind together the community.
In its usual fashion, the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok strives to break with the 20th-century traditions for performing the piece and restore the most import elements of how it was played when it was written, which were presumably more in line with the composer's original intentions. The performance will be made complete with a display of fine artworks related to the piece.

Presented by: Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok, Müpa Budapest