Review: Minnesota Orchestra delivers Mozart’s ‘Requiem’ with solemnity, vibrancy and passion

Thomas Søndergård has been the Minnesota Orchestra’s music director for 15 months now, but not since his debut concerts in the fall of 2023 — when the buildings and bridges of downtown Minneapolis were decked out in the red and white of the Danish flag — has he summoned up as palpable a sense of occasion as led into this weekend’s concerts.

This would be where Søndergård met Mozart. That composer doesn’t appear on Orchestra Hall programs as often as you might imagine, his music regarded around town as primarily the province of smaller groups like the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Orchestra has gained a reputation for going big. For example, it recently released the last of its recordings of Gustav Mahler’s complete symphonies, and orchestral music doesn’t get much bigger than that.

Similarly, Søndergård seems to favor larger-scale stuff, judging from his programming of works by Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel. But, for his first Minnesota Orchestra concerts that employ a choir and a set of vocal soloists, he’s chosen Mozart’s “Requiem,” funeral music that the composer was writing at the time of his own death at 35.

And Friday’s performance was suitably solemn and prayerful, demonstrating that this orchestra is versatile enough to lend vibrancy and passion to the music of 1791. Aided immeasurably by four outstanding soloists who found all of the drama and beauty within the Latin text, it proved a very rewarding performance.

Mozart’s mass for the dead wasn’t the only work on the program. Complementing it well were works inspired by a composer’s Catholic faith — Olivier Messiaen’s solemn work of meditative melancholy, “Les Offrandes Oubliées” — and a deeply absorbing 2022 piece written in response to the deaths of some beloved mentors.

That would be Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz’s “Tzam,” a work that underlined that she’s an imaginative orchestrator who deserves to be heard. Ortiz offered ample opportunity for the orchestra to show off its skills and the musicians took full advantage, making the quietest moments magical with glassy glissandos in the violins, brass that chimed like bells and woodwinds that fluttered and floated like windswept leaves. It’s a work that exudes a sweeping sense of triumph, leaving me longing to hear more of Ortiz’s music.

But the main reason for this concert’s sold-out status was Mozart’s “Requiem,” a work that found the pop culture radar through the 1984 film, “Amadeus,” a splendid historical fantasy about Mozart’s relationship with a rival. As box office attractions go, the “Requiem” doesn’t create the kind of catharsis you’ll get from works that similarly require choirs and vocal soloists, such as Beethoven’s Ninth or Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony. By its very nature, a “Requiem” is soaked in sadness, and Mozart expressed grief eloquently.

While the 87-voice choir periodically overpowered the orchestra, the four soloists were outstanding, whether weaving their voices or delivering captivating solos. Bass-baritone Dashon Burton demonstrated why this former member of local vocal group Cantus is now a three-time Grammy winner, bringing breathtaking power to every phrase.

Meanwhile, tenor Evan LeRoy Johnson stepped in on short notice and blended beautifully with his equally impressive collaborators, soprano Andrea Carroll and mezzo Taylor Raven. They offered reassurance that this deserved to be a destination concert.

With: Conductor Thomas Søndergård, the Minnesota Chorale and vocal soloists

What: Works by Olivier Messiaen, Gabriela Ortiz and Mozart

When: 7 p.m. Sat.

Where: Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls.

Tickets: $49-$116, available at 612-371-5656 or minnesotaorchestra.org

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.