Rossini: Stabat Mater
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Composer: Gioachino RossiniConductor: Antonio Pappano
Orchestra: Orchestra dell'Accademia Santa Cecilia
Performer: Anna Netrebko
Performer: Joyce DiDonato
Performer: Lawrence Brownlee
Performer: Ildebrando D'Arcangelo
Performer: Coro dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia
Edition: Music CD
Audio: Italian (Unknown)
CD Release Date: 2010-12-07
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
- Stabat Mater dolorosa (Introduction). - Stabat Mater
- Cujus animam gementem. - Stabat Mater
- Quis est homo. - Stabat Mater
- Pro peccatis suae gentis. - Stabat Mater
- Eja, Mater, fons amoris. - Stabat Mater
- Sancta Mater, istud agas. - Stabat Mater
- Fac, ut portem Christi mortem. - Stabat Mater
- Inflammatus et accensus. - Stabat Mater
- Quando corpus morietur. - Stabat Mater
- Amen. In sempiterna saecula. - Stabat Mater
Music reviews of Rossini: Stabat Mater
Music Review: Pappano, St. Cecilia, Soloists: Rossini: Stabat Mater: Vivid, warm, polished .... Most Welcome ...
Rating: 5 Stars
Let's start by mentioning bench marks available so far in the catalog, though some may be mainly available in the secondary (used CD) markets, and so forth. My oldest high take on this famous work by Rossini was in fact a golden age stereo recording, led by the prematurely-deceased Istvan Kertesz. If memory serves, he had four good solo singers - Pilar Lorengar as soprano, Yvonne Minton as Alto, Luciano Pavarotti as tenor, and Ruggero Raimondi as bass. LSO Chorus plus orchestra were good, too.
There is also an early stereo reading from Berlin (Forster conducting?). I believe Testament re-released it, and all I recall at the moment is that our home USA singer Betty Allen was alto soloist. Then we come to more recent entries when a sort of flurry of releases made the work even more widely available than the two standouts in the previous stereo catalog. I can mention Muti on EMI, now re-released in a double CD set; Semyon Bychkov, whom I ended up not liking all that much despite my general admiration for the conductor; Myung Whung Chung in Vienna; Thomas Schippers in Cincinnati, from the May Festival that year?; and my long-held special favorite led by Carlo Maria Giulini. His soloists were very good, too; and the detractors will fault Giulini for trying too hard to sound solemn and devotional, via slowed down tempos and what they hear as phrasing that refuses to smile. Add in readings by Spering, Scimone, Marcus Creed. The good choices list is much longer than it used to be.
Now arrives Antonio Pappano with a strong Italian orchestra and chorus, plus four quite gifted soloists. Soprano is Anna Netrebko. Joyce Di Donato as mezzo instead of a real alto. Lawrence Brownlee as tenor. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo as bass. The band and chorus at St. Cecilia are in consistent good form, combining a warm and hearty tone with plenty of style and polish. One imagines that if the Italians cannot play good Rossini, then we suffer a keen loss, indeed.
Pappano is one of today's very best big time conductors ... but I sometimes feel that his recordings have not always caught him at his very best. He often deserves much stronger singers than he can get on given occasions; happily this disc is not another instance of reaching high with so-so soloists. One need have few reservations about the solo singing - the quartet blends well - just as it should. Everybody has warmth, presence, and technical polish to put a shine as well as a glittering edge on the apt, stylish phrasing.
Rossini did not write easy music for soloists or chorus in this work - often a Capella singing exposes every body. If you can't stay in tune, the Stabat Mater will hang you out to dry. The bass is a real soloist here, not just the reliable bottom end of the vocal quartet. The tenor gets challenged by the third number ... a Stand and Deliver outing in full flourish. But just being a vocal star is not enough, as Rossini also asks for quite a bit of blend and flexibility from each singer as a quartet member, and as an ensemble member when the larger chorus joins in.
One of the big risks in playing and singing this work is its operatic manners. If you just let go and do Rossini, you might end up making the work sound like a typically Brilliant Rossini opera, mistakenly set to a religious text that is really contrarily distinguished by its long devotional religious history. If you go for broke on the devotional side, then you can end up slighting the integrity of Rossini's real deal operatic genius. Was this composer ever, not a shining light of the theater?
Pappano and company find an effective balance, and show expressive flexibility, so that the ten sections of the work unfold - naturally with flow, yet also dramatically, with polish and brilliance on top of all that good stuff. The four soloists really seem to be enjoying themselves, despite the vocal exposure in bare moments that reveal all nakedly. Di Donato has been releasing discs as a center stage diva for her label, EMI; ditto, for Netrebko across several labels. But both women decline any temptations to show boat at anybody's expense, not least the composer's musical intentions. Lawrence Brownlee deserves special mention - he comes across as a real deal Rossini tenor; and is probably as good in his difficult assignments as, say, the redoubtable bel canto star of our stage today, ...., would be if he had been cast. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo has shown himself a very capable quartet member - his work under Gardiner in the Verdi Requiem is still shining bright on my Verdi fav shelves. In his Rossini singing, he gets a further solo chance to shine in the best sense. His bottom also helps the quartet tune, eloquently.
Netrebko's big operatic moment is, of course, by tradition- the Inflammatus. Her contribution here is that she really bothers to sing it, not just bring the house down figuratively via fire and flash.
So do all. I cannot divine the magical mix whereby Pappano has everybody true to the genuine Rossini operatic and vocal roots, while still conveying palpable tones of reflection, even devotion. His phrasing is working, and in the moments of drama he manages to strike touches of vivid solemn ritual without losing his song.
Perhaps the best comment on this reading would be that Pappano and friends allow Rossini to breathe, speak, and sing - just as ought to be the case.
Add this one to the keeper shelf. Probably among the top three or four readings currently available. For some no doubt, this disc will quickly become a number one choice. I could wish that EMI had bothered to get it to us in super audio surround sound - but EMI seems not to care about that high resolution option. So I guess we have to wait until somebody remasters it later, on an Esoteric or other specialty label project. As red book PCM goes, the sound is vivid and hearty and fine.
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Description of Rossini: Stabat Mater
Award-winning conductor Antonio Pappano and his acclaimed Roman orchestra the Accademia di Santa Cecilia release Rossini's Stabat Mater. The recording includes star soloists Anna Netrebko, Joyce DiDonato, Lawrence Brownlee and Ildebrando d'Arcangelo.Classical CDs
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