The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Chorus, and solo vocalists perform with Music Director Fabio Luisi at Meyerson Symphony Center, November 4, 2021. Photo: Stewart F. House
“In less than two years the world has lost more than 5 million souls to COVID-19. The masked musicians onstage at Thursday night’s Dallas Symphony Orchestra concert, and the sizable masked audience, reminded us of still-present dangers,” writes Scott Cantrell in Friday’s’ (11/5) Dallas Morning News. “In these circumstances, Strauss’ Metamorphosen was a subtly apt pairing for the Mozart Requiem. It was good to … hear the Dallas Symphony Chorus for the first time in nearly two years…. Although orchestras have found ways to perform during the pandemic … concerns with choral singing as a viral spreader have prompted greater caution. The Dallas chorus was masked and socially distanced all across the Meyerson Symphony Center’s choral terrace. Each of the program’s two works … relates to death and loss. Mozart was literally dying as he struggled—unsuccessfully—to complete his Requiem. At 81, Richard Strauss finished his Metamorphosen in the last months of World War II, with the world he had known and loved being reduced to rubble…. Music Director Fabio Luisi … quite rightly played up the Requiem’s theatricality. It was a gripping performance…. [In] Metamorphosen … Luisi … displayed a special affinity for the composer.” Read Symphony magazine’s article about choruses returning to perform with orchestras this season.
