Music and Dance Reviews : Wagner Conducts Requiem

The essence of the Requiem Mass, Roger Wagner explained in brief prefatory remarks, is found in the first word of the text-- requiem, which means rest. On Sunday afternoon, the Roger Wagner Chorale made a convincing case for that statement, as it performed Maurice Durufle’s Requiem at Westwood United Methodist Church.

Requiem is also the last word in the text, and Wagner shaped the entire work to culminate with an unusually serene account of the final “In Paradisum.” Each movement seemed to follow naturally from the preceding one, and within movements the French-born conductor achieved an unending sense of direction and flow. The chorale rendered pianissimo passages with striking effect, maintaining perfect balances and generating considerable intensity.

With equal success, the chorus conveyed the drama found in “Domine Jesu Christe” and “Libera Me.” Mezzo-soprano Claudine Carlson brought passionate urgency to the “Pie Jesu,” delivering her lines with clarity and authority.

The fluidity that pervaded the chorale’s reading of the Requiem was found earlier in motets of Palestrina and Victoria, which the ensemble sang with vibrancy and resonance at every dynamic level, shaping each phrase with absolute unanimity.