A "Stabat Mater" for all seasons...

[whipped guy]

I just wanted to share a review I recently penned...

 

 

Why was the new EMI recording of Rossini’s Stabat Mater released during the wrong Holiday season? Well a December release for a composition associated with Good Friday and the Easter season seemed totally wrongheaded. However, by not waiting until April EMI has done the musical world quite a service as this is one of the most outstanding if not the most exceptional recording of this composition I have ever encountered. Indeed, until I experienced this recording, I had never heard a recording of this piece that was completely satisfactory. Something or other was always seemingly out of place and I thought that at least a portion of the blame was based on the schizophrenic nature of certain parts of the composition. (Read secular vs. religious…. a claim that can be made against the religious compositions of most composers by the way.) However, after hearing this recording it is apparent that Rossini knew exactly what he wanted to achieve… and it only took a group of artists capable of understanding and mining that genius so as to fully realize the glories inherent in the score.

 

There are usually two basic approaches to this work. One is to make the composition sound as religious as possible with ponderous tempi and rounding of the sharp edges. The other is to make the piece sound as operatic and jaunty as possible emphasizing the pointed rhythmic thrust inherent in the piece. Here conductor Antonio Pappano has managed to conflate both approaches with the result that it becomes evident that akin to Verdi’s Requiem, Rossini’s hymn to the Virgin Mary is the most dramatic text that either composer ever set. As a result, the drama, excitement, power, force, and religious fervor inherent in the text are thrilling brought to the forefront… and by both vocal and orchestral means.

 

Pappano certainly brings out the succulent orchestral palette that Rossini employs. In addition to the luxurious sounding string section, the brass section thrillingly rings out and woodwind details are never slighted. As an example, the timpani in the “Pro peccatis” have never sounded more ominous (actually like threatening rolls of thunder in the distance) and the pizzicato strings more menacing. Pappano also understands that there is a reason for the jaunty beginning to the “Sancta mater” quartet… it is deliberate so that when the bass ultimately makes his entrance the effect is all the more dominant and authoritative. Furthermore, Pappano performs the penultimate movement with the four solo voices that Rossini originally intended instead of giving the piece to the entire chorus as is normally the custom… and never has this music sounded more dramatic and edgy. This gives a nice contrast to the heft of the chorus in the preceding “Inflammatus” and the concluding “Amen” as well. Moreover, Pappano initiates the initial brass cords of that final “Amen” as an attacca without any pause and the effect is terrifying and shocking beyond belief. Also, he has the brass section be ever so slightly reticent in the measures leading up to the final coda so that when the brass do finally intone the final orchestral passage which reiterates the theme of the opening movement the effect is one of a totally devastating rush of orchestral color that dramatically brings the composition to a thrilling conclusion.

 

Now if the solo quartet were not performing on an equally high standard all of Pappano’s efforts might be for naught. Unfortunately most recordings of this work are sabotaged by uneven singing. Happily, here we go from strength to strength… Anna Netrebko is simply luscious and thankfully sings the difficult ascending trills in the “Inflammatus” better than most and actually as well as anyone. Joyce DiDonato and Lawrence Brownlee are operatic Rossinians of the first order and don’t disappoint here with the master in his religious guise. IIldebrando D’Arcangelo rounds out the soloists with his firm basso cantante. As implied the orchestral and choral forces are quite effective under Pappano’s direction and the fact that they are captured in a natural sounding recording that encompasses all the delicacy of the highest registers down to the depths of a deep and resonant sounding bass is indeed an asset as well.

 

So this recording is a winner by any standard. Get this now… no need to wait for Good Friday… plus Easter is late this year!

[leigh.bess.toad]

Sounds wonderful WG. I've been a big Pappano fan for a while. I think he has done some wonderful work so I doesn't really surprise me. I love DiDonato and Brownlee as well, but I've never been a huge Nebs fan but she does have her moments and you certainly make the case she does here. I've heard D'Arcnagelo a few times and have been reasonably impressed.

 

But the one question about your review, since I haven't gone out and looked it up (which I'm sure I could do) -- who's the band and chorus. Covent Garden? London Phil? Just kind of curious. This can be a great work and you certainly make me want to go out and give it a try. Thanks!

[whipped guy]

Lee... I am not a Nebs fan... and almost did not purchase this because she was in it... but I have been quite impressed with Pappano's work... not to mention DiDonato and Brownlee. As for Nebs, I have been always irritated by her lack of a trill and her insistence on singing Bel Canto works for which she is not really well equipped... such as her disastrous I Puritani and Lucia both of which were issued on DVD. However, in the right rep she is quite fine... such as her Antonia in last season's Hoffmann at the MET where only her dying trill was a bit shakey... pun intended. Here she acquits herself quite nicely and that even includes those trills in the "Inflammatus". Incidentally the Chorus and Orchestra are that of Santa Cecilia in Rome. Pappano has worked with them on a variety of projects of late and they respond well to him. A Guillaume Tell from the same venue is scheduled for release by EMI sometime this year.

[uwsman2]

I've been a big Pappano fan since seeing him conduct a spectacular Brahms 4th Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra in Daytona Beach, Florida, quite a few summers ago. (The LSO used to do a two week residence in Daytona Beach every other summer, and I went down a few times to visit relatives and attend the concerts.) He is a very dynamic conductor.

[whipped guy]

I have noticed that Pappano has a knack of finding minuscule details in a piece that underscore a certain feeling... be it a humorous twist, a tragic underpinning, or even an interesting detail of orchestration, etc. However, he never looses sight of the overall picture and sweep of a composition and seems to have a special ability to integrate all the minutiae into a satisfying whole. I have never seen him conduct in person, but I would assume that he is the type of conductor that has the ability to communicate with and thus totally control and orchestra. Also, based on interviews, he seems like a decent guy with a congenial personality.