Verdi’s Requiem begins as a whispered plea for eternal rest. Equally hushed is the ending of this Mass for the dead. Yet in the intervening hour and a half, emotions run high, with the thunderous storm of the Dies Irae as the dramatic climax. Sacred music or opera? However you view it, this music is larger than life, says Lahav Shani. ‘And surely that is precisely what a requiem is all about?’