VERDI REQUIEM Jessye Norman, José Carreras (1982, Home Vision, $29.95) Just as opera is virtually a religious experience for many fans, Verdi's great Requiem Mass is really an impassioned opera at heart. From its hushed choral opening to the melting lyricism of the "Offertorio" and the apocalyptic fury of the "Dies Irae," it can be as thrilling as any opera Verdi wrote. And that's exactly how conductor Claudio Abbado approaches it in this exciting yet always deeply reverential performance. Taped at the 1982 Edinburgh Festival by the London Symphony, its only flaw is the absence of any English titles to illuminate all the marvelous nuances the singers bring out in the Latin text.

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