Search - Giuseppe Verdi, Tullio Serafin, Fiorenza Cossotto :: Tullio Serafin conducts Verdi

The main virtues of Serafin's 1959 Verdi Requiem lie in the splendid choral singing (the soft passages will make the hairs on your back stand up) and Boris Christoff's refulgent dispatch of the bass solos. While the veteran conductor's idiomatic command and sensitivity to ensemble values are never in question, one misses the urgent continuity and natural orchestral balance (let alone the stellar vocal quartet) distinguishing his famous 1939 HMV version. Moreover, loud passages sound oversaturated and distorted, indicating that the master tapes have eroded with time. Also new to CD is a 1955 collection of Verdi choruses generously filling out the second disc, stylishly rendered but opaquely reproduced in boxy mono. Christoff's fans, to be sure, will want to acquire this set, but those wishing a first-class Verdi Requiem from stereo's golden age will get more sonic and musical fulfillment from Giulini (EMI) or Solti (London). --Jed Distler