BBCSSO/Runnicles review – sheer and impressive drama

Royal Albert Hall, London
Donald Runnicles, conducting the Deutsche Oper Berlin’s chorus and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, brought precision and drama to Verdi’s RequiemWhen the conductor Hans von Bülow sneeringly dubbed Verdi’s Requiem “an opera in ecclesiastical costume”, Brahms severely reprimanded him. Bülow would later retract his remark and Verdi apparently forgave him.Yet Bülow had some sort of point. One entire section of the Requiem (the Lacrimosa) began