The Return of Riccardo

The Italian maestrissimo evokes drama and solace in The Philharmonia's Verdi's Requiem

Riccardo Muti returns his old stamping ground, the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in a signature piece, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem Picture © Mark Allan

Riccardo Muti’s appearances in London have become regrettable rarities, yet his rise to the centre-stage over 50 years ago partly derived from his appointment here in 1973 as Otto Klemperer’s successor as the Philharmonia Orchestra’s principal conductor. Already two years earlier Muti had been earmarked for superstardom by an invitation from Herbert von Karajan to conduct Donizetti’s Don Pasquale at the Salzburg Festival (his first of many appearances at the ‘Cannes of Classical Music’). But it was his Philharmonia appointment, hand-in-hand with a record contract from Klemperer’s illustrious label EMI, that set him on path which would conquer the world’s opera houses and concert halls.

Although his opera appearances in the British capital have been few - Verdi’s Aïda and Macbeth at Covent Garden in 1975 and 1981, Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi in 1984 - his Philharmonia years (1973-82) established him as one of the world’s outstanding Verdi conductors - thanks in large part to the series of star-studded opera recordings he made here with the orchestra, including the Verdi Requiem, the composer’s “greatest opera” if one accepts this description of the piece by the great Wagner conductor Hans von Bülow. These classic sets almost certainly made Muti a shoo-in as Claudio Abbado’s successor at La Scala, Milan, where his tenure as music director (1986-2005) exceeds that of any predecessor of the postwar era.

Muti has recorded the Requiem at least four times. His first and only studio recording, still arguably the best, dates from the middle of his Philharmonia years, before he went to La Scala, when he was still able to call the world’s finest Verdi singers as soloists. That EMI recording was preceded by the first of three live performances I have heard him conduct in London at different venues: the Royal Albert Hall (1978), Westminster Cathedral (2007) and now, last Thursday, the Royal Festival Hall, where he was given a hero’s welcome. His concerts as a young man have not been forgotten and he still cuts a physically impressive figure as he approaches 84, even if his famous mop of jet-black hair has lost some of its glossy sheen.