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Violent, vivid Verdi ends Charlotte Symphony season

People sometimes ask me why they should spend money for a Charlotte Symphony Orchestra concert when a recording costs much less (or the same, if you get a balcony seat). The answer came Friday in Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem: Patrons leaned forward intently when the composer had soloists praying and were blown back in Belk Theater seats when he unleashed the day of judgment. You heard things you'd never notice at home.

This 85-minute monument to poet Alessandro Manzoni can be too much of a good thing, if you're not attuned to Verdi's operatic style. (I mean "operatic" both musically and emotionally.) His harrowing Dies Irae section comes at you three times, even interrupting the soprano's last request to be delivered from eternal death: The apocalypse is coming, and she's waiting to see if God hoists her above the flames.