Sir Colin Davis, London Symphony Orchestra - Verdi: Requiem (2009) Hi-Res

listen to the fire he generates, the wisdom, the precision and his grasp of the music's narrative … Davis located Verdi's heart right from the first bars. Whether sighing or seething, Joseph Cullen's massed troops were on exemplary form; I've not yet recovered from their full-throated onslaughts in the Dies Irae, delivered with cutting consonants and the heat of hellfire. What of the soloists? Here too we were blessed. Throughout, Davis shaped Verdi's tumult and song with the master's touch" The Times

"The greatest interpretations are often those where you are most conscious of the music and least aware of the conductor's will imposed on it. Such was the case with this remarkable performance … allowing us to experience to the full the nightmarish quality of Verdi's evocation of the Dies Irae, his deep compassion for the suffering, the flippant glory of the Sanctus, and the dreadful uncertainty with which the work closes" The Guardian

"When you are an octogenarian the prospect of another Requiem Mass might be regarded with some degree of circumspection. Unless, of course, you are Sir Colin Davis … Davis is still such a vigorous force for good in music: his clarity of purpose, his keen sense of weighting and rhythm (no one anchors music like he does), and his fervent love of great public utterances, make him the perfect candidate for big choral masterpieces … Quite marvellous" The Independent