The pictorial illustration chosen for the insert-notes is a detail from a Crucifixion by Grunewald, but it is a far cry from the Master of Mainz and Aschaffenburg to the high baroque of Pergolesi's Naples. Its elegance assumes a further degree of refinement in this recording where the orchestra are reduced to a string quartet with continuo. Remembering that not so long ago the famous Stabat mater was regarded essentially as a choral work with soprano and contralto soloists, and that we now take it for granted that we are about to hear a sacred cantata for two solo voices, the scaling-down of the accompaniment is only proportionate. The effect is to produce a more intimate, more courtly piece, the instruments brought into closer dialogue with the singers, the textures lightened, the rhythms sharpened.
So that is one respect in which this recording stands on its own. Another is the coupling, of which there appears to be no other version, certainly not in the current catalogue. Orfeo is a cantata in four sections, recitative and aria in sequence. Here again the elegance, delightful in itself, seems to place a strict limitation on the dramatic emphasis and emotional fervour of utterance. Orfeo's first aria, ''Ah, Euridice e dove?'', is equable in mood, even spry, though the singer does her best to vary the expression and to suggest an urgency towards the end. The second, its text hovering between tears and rejoicing, has musical developments to match, a structurally interesting composition which perhaps accounts for Beethoven's enthusiasm, mentioned in the notes. Classical disciplines prevail, but the imaginative scope of word-setting is allowed a well-used freedom.
Regina Klepper, a light soprano and a very feminine Orfeo, sings the cantata pleasingly, and in the Stabat mater both she and the contralto Martina Borst dramatize expressively where they can and match their voices admirably in duet. The speeds are sensible and the balance is fine. There are of course many recordings to choose from, but this one has an attractive individuality and sympathetically places the work in a rather different light from usual. R1 '9507122'