Rossini: Stabat Mater [CD]

I believe that this is as fine a recording of this work as you'll find. Although I have frequently heard this piece, both live and recording, this set made me think I was hearing the work for the first time. I give Antonio Pappano credit for this fresh and vivid approach. He is especially effective in bringing out the more lyrical passages and coaxing some exquisite soft singing from his soloists. Just listen to the "un poco meno" section of the bass aria "Pro peccatis" elegantly sung by Ildebrando d'Arcangelo.

Indeed, the soloists are all splendid. Lawrence Brownlee makes the aria "Cujus amimam" sound effortless as he delivers it with golden tone. The darker colour of Netrebko's voice contrasts well with the brighter palate of DiDonato in their duet and they sing their respective arias with great beauty. Perhaps the highlight of the recording is the a capella quartet "Quando corpus morietur."

I have one minor quibble: the voices of the soloists are much more forward than those of the choir. They seem to come from different aural planes. Even in the choral movements, the choir seems remote and recessed. This, however, is not so significant as to impair one's enjoyment of this excellent set.

Highly recommended!

Like Antonio Pappano's "Verdi Requiem" released eighteen months ago, this recording has been heavily hyped and promoted at a time when new such recordings are thin on the ground - and like that "Requiem" (see my review) I think it has merits without being anything special. Certainly the choir, orchestra and Pappano's conducting are all as good as one could wish but I think we run into some trouble once we start making comparisons between the soloist teams here and on previous celebrated versions, particularly with the women.

In case you think I'm being hypercritical, I would say that I am not by far the only commentator to express reservations - although those who dissent are likely to be drowned out and showered with abuse and negative votes for saying so. Maybe it's a case of only dead fish going with the tide, but swimming against is my MusicWeb reviewer colleague Bob Farr, who has also heard a lot of versions and remains underwhelmed. While acknowledging the "dramatic thrust" of Pappano's direction he has serious doubts about the sound balance, which places the soloists too far back, apparently seemingly behind the orchestra, and secondly he expresses disappointment with both Netrebko and DiDonato. I certainly immediately noticed the wobble and lack of firmness in a voice which, when even in its prime, was always too soft-grained for the spinto qualities the music demands and here sounds distinctly laboured. Some have attributed the recent deterioration in her voice, also noticeable in her Micaela in "Carmen", to her having returned to singing too soon after giving birth, when time is needed to recover from the physiological and hormonal changes that happy event occasions. Nor does Joyce DiDonato really thrill; she lacks the heft of lower register brought to the mezzo line by singers in competitive recordings such as Agnes Baltsa, Lucia Valentini Terrani and Yvonne Minton, and sounds faintly uninspired. In truth, both ladies are bland and lack spiritual conviction; I don't buy the throw-away line about this piece being "just a laugh" with no true religious content - you can hear the difference in the gravitas of the soloists in superior earlier versions conducted by Kertesz and Muti. This might explain why some earlier reviewers were not ultimately as wowed as they expected to be having read some fairly enthusiastic plugs.

The men are much better, though even Brownlee cannot provide the gleam of Pavarotti (or, for that matter, Bjorling in his wonderful recording of the "Cuius animam") and the sturdy and splendidly named Ildebrando D'Arcangelo is not necessarily preferable to Hans Sotin or Gwynne Howell.

So I'll stick with my two earlier versions, while still acknowledging Pappano's achievement - but I think he is let down by his ladies.

I would like to express complete satisfaction with my purchase of the CD of the Stabat Mater by Rossini. The music is really marvellous and I would urge anyone who loves choral music to buy this stunning performance which expresses, in my view, perfectly the awful grief of a Mother who is watching her son being crucified. The orchestra and chorus, called the dell' Accademia di Santa Cecillia conducted by Antonia Pappano and the four soloists give a sensitive and expressive performance of a wonderful Masterrpiece. In addition, there is a very informative leaflet which includes an English translation of the text..