His Stabat mater has long been the work for which Pergolesi is best known, and there are currently 14 recordings available. This, the latest, is welcome partly because of the fine touch which Roy Goodman and his players bring to it, and partly because of the distinctive tone of Nathalie Stutzmann. Her recent song recitals on record have, to my mind, been disappointing, but in this music not only is the depth of her sumptuous contralto something to enjoy for its own sake but she sings with an imaginative responsiveness to mood, finding apt colours for the word-painting that is characteristic of both works performed here. In this context there is something of the male alto in her timbre, but with an added richness of tonal resources. The Salve regina benefits still more strikingly. This is the setting probably more familiar in C minor and sung by a soprano, but the F minor transposition is authentic and has its advantages. Compare June Anderson, with the Montreal Sinfonietta under Dutoit, where the impression is of a charming piece of music not entirely happy in its singer. The F minor version as heard here is very different: the combination of a deep voice and a lightened orchestra produces a far more interesting texture of sound, and with the greater expressiveness of performance the work itself becomes more than merely charming.
For the Stabat mater a natural comparison is with the fine recording by the King's Consort, in which Roy Goodman himself took part as first violinist. Now, in this version, he directs, as Robert King did, from the chamber organ, but in all except the outer movements, takes a slightly faster tempo. The lamenting quality of these is heightened by contrast, and, throughout, everything is done to strengthen the vivid pictorial element in the music, as in the ''Fac ut portem'' and the representation of Christ's death.
The Stabat mater also has an able soprano in Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz, and it is a pity that she was not engaged to sing the A minor Salve regina (54 minutes' playing-time is not generous, and the 11-12 minute length of that work would have suited admirably). Some biographical information might also have been given about her as it is about the other artists. But then, more might have been said in the booklet about a lot things: for instance, about the Salve regina (''a particularly worthy inheritor of the tradition'' is not much use) and about the period instruments and pitch (a semitone lower in both works) and the performing editions used.'