Verdi: Inno delle nazioni; Quattro Pezzi Sacri Freddie De Tommaso, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Alla Scala di Milano & Riccardo Chailly

• Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901): Inno delle nazioni:
• 1Verdi: Inno delle nazioni: I. Allegro sostenuto02:44
• 2Verdi: Inno delle nazioni: II. Recitativo, meno mosso03:58
• 3Verdi: Inno delle nazioni: III. Andante mosso07:13
• 4 Pezzi Sacri:
• 4Verdi: 4 Pezzi Sacri: I. Ave Maria04:48
• 5Verdi: 4 Pezzi Sacri: II. Stabat Mater12:34
• 6Verdi: 4 Pezzi Sacri: III. Laudi alla Vergine Maria05:36
• 7Verdi: 4 Pezzi Sacri: IV. Te Deum14:45
• Total Runtime51:38

Info for Verdi: Inno delle nazioni; Quattro Pezzi Sacri

Chailly and La Scala maintain the gold standard for Verdi in this new release coupling two great but rarely recorded choral works. The Hymn of the Nations (Inno delle nazioni) features Decca’s star tenor Freddie De Tommaso, the first tenor to record this work for Decca since Pavarotti. First performed in London in 1862 the Hymn incorporates ‘God Save the Queen’, ‘La Marseillaise’ and ‘Il Canto degli Italiani’: the national anthems of Great Britain, France and Italy. The Four Scared Pieces were published as a set in 1898, shortly before Verdi died. It portrays themes promising peace and the hope of paradise. This album follows the success of ‘Verdi Choruses’ which BBC Music Magazine awarded a 5 Star review: “Chorus and orchestra are both on their mettle here: the orchestral playing is clean and brilliant, the choral tone full and healthy.” “Chailly is meticulous and pays attention to the fine details, drawing performances from the chorus that are always sonorous and tasteful.” (Gramophone)

Freddie De Tommaso, tenor
Coro del Teatro alla Scala di Milano
Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano Riccardo Chailly, conductor

Freddie De Tommaso
A phenomenal voice and talent in the tradition of the great Italian tenor voices, 27 year old British-Italian Freddie De Tommaso shot to prominence when he won the First Prize, the Placido Domingo Tenor Prize and the Verdi Prize at the 2018 Viñas International Singing Competition in Barcelona. Since then he has performed at the Royal Opera House and Dutch National Opera and in September 2020, he opened to great success the Wiener Staatsoper season as Pinkerton in a new production of Madama Butterfly conducted by Philippe Jordan. Further performances this season include Macduff Macbeth, Italian Singer Der Rosenkavalier and Ismaele Nabucco, all at the Wiener Staatsoper, Alfredo La Traviata at Staatsoper Berlin and a hugely anticipated debut as Cavaradossi Tosca at Royal Opera House. Looking further ahead his engagements include several leading roles at Royal Opera House, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Dutch National Opera and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia Valencia.

Highlights from De Tommaso’s 2019/20 season include Cassio Otello at the Royal Opera House under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano and Ismaele Nabucco with Dutch National Opera. He was as also invited to make his company debut in a new production of Madama Butterlfy at Semperoper Dresden.

As a Previous member of the studio of Bayerische Staatsoper for the 18/19 season, De Tommaso appeared in productions including Norma, La Fanciulla del West, La bohème and the programme’s production of Mavra and Iolanta double bill. Prior to this, he was a member of the Young Singer Academy at the Salzburg Festival for the 2018 season. Following the Viñas competition, De Tommaso was invited to appear in concert at Teatro Real, Madrid and in recital in Vilagarcia, Spain. Other performances included concerts with the Georg Solti Accademia in Tuscany and a gala concert at the Victoria Hall, Geneva. His solo credits also include Mendelssohn Elijah, Puccini Messa di Gloria and Verdi Requiem.

Hailing from Tunbridge Wells, the British-Italian tenor is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music where he studied under the guidance of Mark Wildman. His roles there included Don Jose La Tragedie de Carmen and Rodolfo La bohème. De Tommaso was generously supported by the Josephine Baker and Countess of Munster trusts. He is a Joseph Karaviotis scholar, a recipient of a Gregory-Carr scholarship and the Richard Lewis scholarship.

In April 2021 the opera singer became the first solo tenor to debut at No.1 in the Official Classical Artist Albums Chart in 20 years, beating Andrea Bocelli and Max Richter in his album Passione’s first week. He also landed the No.1 spot in the Official Specialist Classical Chart.

Riccardo Chailly
is Principal Conductor of Filarmonica della Scala since November 2015. Born in Milan, he studied in Perugia, Roma and Milano, following also Franco Ferrara’s advanced courses at Siena’s Accademia Chigiana.

The Radio-Symphonie-Orchester of Berlin offered him his first position as Principal Conductor. For 16 years, from 1988, Chailly covered the same position at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, in Amsterdam. Contemporarily, he was Music Director of Bologna’s Teatro Comunale and of Verdi Symphonic Orchestra, in Milan. In 2016 he concluded his long collaboration as Kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester in Lipsia.

He regularly conducts the most important European symphonic orchestras: Wiener Philharmoniker, Berliner Philharmoniker, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, London Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris. In the United States he conducted New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra e Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Concerning Opera, he collaborates with: Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Covent Garden, Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, Opernhaus Zurich. He is regularly invited to the most important international festivals, among which Salisburgo and London’s Proms; from August 2016 Chailly is Music Director of the Lucerna Festival’s Orchestra, a position that in the past was held by Claudio Abbado. Riccardo Chailly is a Decca exclusive artist. He won the prestigious Echo Klassik prize as 2012 “Best Conductor” with the recording of Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies with the Gewandhausorchester.

His complete edition of Brahms’ Symphonies won the Gramophone Award as “Recording of the Year”, and Viva Verdi, recorded with the Filarmonica della Scala for the celebration of the 200th year from Verdi’s birth, resulted the most sold classic CD in Italy.

Riccardo Chailly is Italian Republic’s Grand’Ufficiale and Cavaliere di Gran Croce, he is also a member of London’s Royal Academy of Music. He was nominated Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion and Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

This album contains no booklet.