There's always been the flair of theatrical, swooning, operatic drama in
Rufus Wainwright
's music. It's a vibe he has evoked on his pop albums, but which he leaned directly into on his two operas, 2009's
Prima Donna
(recorded in 2015) and 2018's Hadrian. While not an opera, 2025's
Dream Requiem
nonetheless underscores the singer/songwriter's deep passion for dramatic classical composition. An ambitious project to say the least,
finds
Wainwright
fusing
Giuseppe Verdi
's iconic 1874 Requiem with
Lord Byron
's 1816 poem "Darkness." He purportedly conceived the idea of
at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, ruminating over the state of the world, concerns over environmental collapse, and political upheaval. These are themes already redolent in
Byron
's poem, but which gain even more sonic emotional layers when reframed against the Catholic funeral mass choralizations of
Verdi
's piece. Recorded live at Auditorium de Radio France in Paris,
features soprano
Anna Prohaska
, a longtime
associate, along with the
Ch¿ur de Radio France
and the
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France
conducted by
Mikko Franck
. Also helping bring life to the project is actress
Meryl Streep
, who narrates
's poem with a steely,
Shakespearean
gravitas. More than just a heady historical mash-up,
's
is a deep classical album, full of cavernous orchestral sections, apocalyptic choral harmonies, and moments of haunting, spectral beauty. It's also a vivid theatrical experience that manages to feel both viscerally engaging and unsettling in its timeliness. ~ Matt Collar