Review: PROM 69 – MOZART'S 'REQUIEM', Royal Albert Hall

Mozart received the commission for this requiem under mysterious circumstances, a “messenger in black” brought the request and then refused to divulge who had sent him. The identity of the person commissioning the work was eventually revealed to be that of Count Franz von Walsegg, as he had recently lost his wife and wanted to commemorate her with a requiem - however, as Mozart didn’t start working on it until October 1791 (three months after the commission was sent), it remained unfinished upon his death in December that year. Several of Mozart’s pupils were charged with completing the composition, though the bulk of this work fell to Franz Xaver Süssmayr.

For this performance, Raphaël Pichon and his choral and orchestral ensemble Pygmalion reimagined Mozart’s Requiem by interspersing the movements with a variety of other short works by the famed Austrian composer, as well as bookending the performance with some plainsong, “In Paradisum”. The ensemble was joined by soloists Malakai Bayoh, Sandrine Piau, Beth Taylor, Laurence Kilsby, and Alex Rosen.

Due to the nature of the requiem mass, and it typically journeying from death to terror to redemption, many of the most memorable requiems were composed by opera masters; Verdi’s 1874 effort immediately springs to mind, and Mozart’s is definitely on the same dramatic end of the scale. This in-built drama makes it a natural choice for filmmakers looking for music to really ramp up the tension or create feelings of dread - “Dies irae” in the third movement (“Sequenz”) is one part that particularly stands out.

All five of the vocal soloists were excellent, however it was Malakai Bayoh who stood out. Thrown in at the deep end at the start of the concert, performing “In Paradisum” on his own and a cappella, he shone brightly and sang with a fittingly angelic tone. Far from the events of his Royal Opera House debut last year, he received probably the biggest cheer of the night - and it was a lovely touch to see his fellow soloists and conductor Pichon take the opportunity to congratulate him on his performance. A Proms debut to savour.

The concept of this event was a really fascinating one, and something that I hope will catch on; there are other pieces of music that remained incomplete at the composer’s death, and it would be interesting to see if the same treatment would work on them - whether or not the works were completed by someone else following the composer’s death (as in this case), or if they remain unfinished to this day. It really shows all of the works in a new light to present them in this context.

This was a wonderful inclusion in what has been a stimulating Proms season, and appropriate that a requiem mass should come so near the end of the programme. It has been a rather memorable year, and this concert in particular will not be forgotten easily.

The Proms are at the Royal Albert Hall until 9 September

Photo credit: Monarca Studios

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