Pergolesi/A. Scarlatti Stabat Mater
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Giovanni Pergolesi, (Pietro) Alessandro (Gaspare) Scarlatti
Label: Opus 111
Magazine Review Date: 4/1999
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: OPS30-160
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Stabat mater |
Giovanni Pergolesi, Composer
Concerto Italiano Gemma Bertagnolli, Soprano Giovanni Pergolesi, Composer Rinaldo Alessandrini, Organ Sara Mingardo, Contralto (Female alto) |
Author: Nicholas Anderson
Many readers will already be in possession of at least one recording of Pergolesi’s Stabat mater and, in a highly competitive field, they may well be satisfied with their choice of performance. So I find myself looking for qualities in this new version which commend it over and above others that I know. One of them seems to me to lie in the imaginative and stylistically assured direction of Rinaldo Alessandrini. As in his acclaimed recordings of Monteverdi’s madrigals (Arcana, 7/93 and Opus 111, 12/93, 8/95, 5/97 and 11/97), Alessandrini lays emphasis on the relationship between words and music, and he has come up with some ideas which probe deeper than many, in his aim to bring the piece to life with expressive fervour. And it is a notion, both apposite and, to an extent, complementary, to pair the work with another, earlier Stabat mater by Alessandro Scarlatti. Both settings were commissioned by the same Neapolitan brotherhood, Pergolesi’s to replace the other which the brethren reckoned a little old-fashioned. It isn’t really, for though it does not breathe the theatrical atmosphere of Pergolesi’s iridescent music, it is far from being archaic and overall, perhaps, makes a stronger appeal to the contemplative spirit.
Both settings are similarly scored for soprano and alto soloists with strings and continuo. Alessandrini did well to engage the services of two such well-disciplined and warmly communicative singers. Gemma Bertagnolli is new to me, but her secure technique – which allows her on occasion to indulge in virtuosic vocal athletics – and her clear, forceful delivery made instant appeal. It is Sara Mingardo, though, who makes the stronger impression with her slightly more disciplined approach and her fervent declamation. Her ‘Fac ut portem Christi mortem’ in the Pergolesi is very affectingly interpreted. Both singers make much of the vivid word-painting – present in each of the settings – but wholeheartedly revelling in the melodic allure of the Pergolesi. Only occasional passages of upper string playing diminished my enjoyment.
On balance, Alessandrini’s recording is my first choice, since I prefer the alto part to be sung by a female artist of Mingardo’s calibre than by a falsetto voice. Runner-up in the same category is the version with Dorothea Roschmann and Catherine Robbin. But some readers will not agree, and for them I would recommend Emma Kirkby and James Bowman, or Gillian Fisher and Michael Chance. A third, with Mieke van der Sluis and Gerard Lesne, is spoilt by an over-reverberant acoustic, while a fourth with a hugely talented boy soprano, Sebastian Hennig and Rene Jacobs has some wonderful moments. Over to you.'
Both settings are similarly scored for soprano and alto soloists with strings and continuo. Alessandrini did well to engage the services of two such well-disciplined and warmly communicative singers. Gemma Bertagnolli is new to me, but her secure technique – which allows her on occasion to indulge in virtuosic vocal athletics – and her clear, forceful delivery made instant appeal. It is Sara Mingardo, though, who makes the stronger impression with her slightly more disciplined approach and her fervent declamation. Her ‘Fac ut portem Christi mortem’ in the Pergolesi is very affectingly interpreted. Both singers make much of the vivid word-painting – present in each of the settings – but wholeheartedly revelling in the melodic allure of the Pergolesi. Only occasional passages of upper string playing diminished my enjoyment.
On balance, Alessandrini’s recording is my first choice, since I prefer the alto part to be sung by a female artist of Mingardo’s calibre than by a falsetto voice. Runner-up in the same category is the version with Dorothea Roschmann and Catherine Robbin. But some readers will not agree, and for them I would recommend Emma Kirkby and James Bowman, or Gillian Fisher and Michael Chance. A third, with Mieke van der Sluis and Gerard Lesne, is spoilt by an over-reverberant acoustic, while a fourth with a hugely talented boy soprano, Sebastian Hennig and Rene Jacobs has some wonderful moments. Over to you.'
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