BaL 17.11.18 - Rossini: Petite messe solennelle

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

09.30
Building a Library: Ben Walton surveys the available recordings of Rossini's Petite messe solennelle.

The great opera composer Rossini died 150 years ago this week. According to popular legend he more or less stopped composing after completing his operatic masterpiece William Tell and spent his final years in a sybaritic and depressed retirement. However he did compose two glorious works of religious music during this final period: the Stabat mater and the Petite messe solennelle. The Mass is famously neither little nor solemn. It is a large-scale work with a stream of lyrical arias and energetic choruses. Originally scored for 12 voices, 2 pianos and a harmonium; it is also sometimes performed in a fully orchestrated version. Rossini said of his final masterwork, "Dear Lord, here it is finished, this poor little mass. Have I just written sacred music, or rather, sacrilegious music? I was born for opera buffa, as you well know. Not much technique, a little bit of heart, that’s all. Blessings to you and grant me Paradise."


Available recordings:-

Ria Ginster, Bruna Castagna, Charles Kullman, Leonard Warren, New York Philharmonic Symphony, Westminster Choir, John Barbirolli

Filippo Farinelli, Sabina Belei, Riccardo Bonci, New Chamber Singers, Andrea Cappelleri (download)

Maria Radoeva, JunHo You, Milena Storti, Frank van Hove, Davide Cabassi, Tatiana Larionova, Dora Bizjak, Saint Ephraim Male Choir, Schola Cantorum Budapestiensis, Tito Ceccherini

Daniela Dessi, Gloria Scalchi, Giuseppe Sabbatini, Michele Pertusi, Orchestra e Coro del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Riccardo Chailly (download)

Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Manuela Custer, Stefano Secco, Mirco Palazzi, GewandhausChor, Chor der Oper Leipzig, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Riccardo Chailly (DVD)

Dimitri Kavrakos, David Briggs Katia Labeque, Marielle Labeque, Nicolai Gedda, Lucia Popp, Brigitte Fassbaender, Choir of King's College Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury
Krassimira Stoyanova, Birgit Remmert, Steve Davislim , Hanno Muller-Brachmann, RIAS Kammerchor, Marcus Creed

Julia Lezhneva, Delphine Galou, Michael Spyres, Alexander Vinogradov, Accentus, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Ottavio Dantone

Regula Mühlemann, Anke Vondung, Eric Cutler, Michael Volle, Max Hanft, Duo Tal & Groethuysen, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Peter Dijkstra (download)

Maulbronn Monastery High School Choir, Chor des Evangelischen Seminars im Kloster Maulbronn, Sebastian Eberhardt (download)

Mirella Freni, Lucia Valentini Terrani, Luciano Pavarotti, Ruggero Raimondi, Leone Magiera, Vittoria Rosetta, Coro Polifonico de Teatro alla Scala, Romano Gandolfi

Helen Field, Ann-Marie Owens, Edmund Barham, John Tomlinson, David Nettle, Richard Markham, Peter King, CBSO Chorus, Simon Halsey

Helene Schneiderman, Kenneth Tarver, Lucia Mazzaria, Michael Metzler, Detlef Dörner, Stuttgart Vocal Ensemble Choir, Rupert Huber (download)

Mireille Capelle, Catherine Patriasz, Joseph Cornwell, Jelle Draijer), Wyneke Jordans , Leo van Doeselaar, Nederlands Kamerkoor, Jos van Immerseel (download)

Simon Bucher, Andreas Grasle, Kirchheimer Vokal-Consort, Tonu Kaljuste

Mirella Freni, Lucia Valentini-Terrani, Luciano Pavarotti, Ruggero Raimondi, Pilar Lorengar, Yvonne Minton, Hans Sotin, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, István Kertész

Carolyn Sampson, Hilary Summers, Andrew Tortise, Andrew Foster-Williams, Gary Cooper, Matthew Halls, Mark Williams, The Choir of The King’s Consort, Robert King

Società cameristica di Lugano, Edwin Loehrer (download)

Caterina Rufo, Irene Molinari, Michael Alfonsi, Gian Filippo Bernardini, Accademia Pergolesi, Enrico Angelozzi, Emanuele Leomporri, Gabriele Mauro (download)

Ibolya Verebics, Annette Franz, Roberto Saccà, Jorge Escobar, Kammerensemble des Figuralchors Stuttgart, Johannes Moesus

Martina Musacchio, Claudia Bandera, Guillermo Domínguez, Johannes Mannov, Basel Madrigal Choir, Fritz Näf

Nuccia Focile, Susanne Mentzer, Raul Gimenez, Simone Alaimo, John Birch Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chorus, Sir Neville Marriner (download)

Combattimento, David Mason

Marina Rebeka, Sara Mingardo, Francesco Meli, Alex Esposito, Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Sir Antonio Pappano

[In English] Bruce Ford, Toby Stafford-Allen, Barry Banks, Dennis O'Neill, Paul Nixon, Geoffrey Mitchell Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra, David Parry (download)

Françoise Pollet, Jacqueline Mayeur, Jean-Luc Viala, Raymond Alessandrini, Ensemble Vocal Michel Piquemal, Michel Piquemal.

Leo van Doeselaar, Wyneke Jordans Dirk Luijmes, Quink Vocal Ensemble (download)

Katia Ricciarelli, Margarita Zimmermann, Jose Carreras, Samuel Ramey, Craig Sheppard, Richard Nunn,, Ambrosian Singers, Claudio Scimone

Giuliano Di Filippo, Enrico Maria Polimanti, Chiarastella Onorati, Letizia Calandra, Lorenzo Battagion, Michelangelo Carbonara, Alberto Pavoni,Goffredo Petrassi Chamber Choir, Flavio Emilio Scogna

Peter Lika, Ulla Sippola, Thomas Dewald, Margot Pares-Reyna, Chorus Musicus Koln, Christoph Spering

[MickyD]

Will be interested to hear this - I have the Immerseel/Accent version, with very pleasing period pianos and harmonium accompaniment.

[Stanfordian]

Will be interested to hear this - I have the Immerseel/Accent version, with very pleasing period pianos and harmonium accompaniment.

My finest recording is from Françoise Pollet, Jacqueline Mayeur, Jean-Luc Viala, Raymond Alessandrini, Ensemble Vocal directed by Michel Piquemal. This account has pianos and harmonium accompaniment.

[vinteuil]

Will be interested to hear this - I have the Immerseel/Accent version, with very pleasing period pianos and harmonium accompaniment.

... why don't I have this???!!!

I think the best plan will be -

http://amzn.eu/d/17vyZx3

I like this work a lot, especially in its 'original' form. Of those on the shelves my current favourite wd be the King's Consort -

http://amzn.eu/d/77sIu6S

[Bosendorfer 1862; copy of Conrad Graf 1826; Debain 1868]

and I also like the Piquemal. The Cleobury is too well-upholstered for my taste.

Many thanks as usual to Alpensinfonie for this splendid list - I had not known (that death had undone so many) that there wd be so many interesting recordings available...


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[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But is it any good after the Overture?

<butterwouldn'tmeltemoticon>

[Stanfordian]

But is it any good after the Overture?

<butterwouldn'tmeltemoticon>

It's masterwork. I love that hilarious thread title.

[vinteuil]

It's masterwork. I love that hilarious threat title.

... yes - as was said by Arthur Jacobs [ A New Dictionary of Music ] of the Trumpet Marine, an "obsolete instrument apparently named on the 'Holy Roman Empire' principle - being neither marine nor a trumpet... "



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[LeMartinPecheur]

Will be interested to hear this - I have the Immerseel/Accent version, with very pleasing period pianos and harmonium accompaniment.

Is yours LP like mine?

[Bryn]

Is yours LP like mine?

Possibly the CDs in the Accent 70th birthday box, a copy of which I have just ordered from an Amazon marketplace vendor.

[vinteuil]

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... praps even cheaper from the States -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011QAHCG2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

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[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Aren't they all accompanied by pianos and harmonium?

[vinteuil]

Aren't they all accompanied by pianos and harmonium?

... originally twelve voices, two pianos, harmonium - he later orchestrated it.

"In 1867 Rossini orchestrated his mass for instrumental forces much larger: three flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, three bassoons, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, ophicleide, two cornets, timpani, two harps, organ and strings... "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_messe_solennelle

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[oddoneout]

... originally twelve voices, two pianos, harmonium - he later orchestrated it.

"In 1867 Rossini orchestrated his mass for instrumental forces much larger: three flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, three bassoons, four horns, four trumpets, three trombones, ophicleide, two cornets, timpani, two harps, organ and strings... "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petite_messe_solennelle

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For the benefit of those who hadn't already twigged that it was neither 'petite' nor 'solennelle'?

[DublinJimbo]

What a great work this is! I much prefer the original version, but am torn between several recordings:

Jos van Immerseel and the Nederlands Kamerkoor
Marcus Creed and the RIAS Kammerchor
Tonu Kaljuste and the Kirchheimer Vokal-Consort
Duo Tal & Groethuysen, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks and Peter Dijkstra

I wasn't aware of the Piquemal recording, but I'll listen to the Qobuz stream and see what I think.

[MickyD]

Possibly the CDs in the Accent 70th birthday box, a copy of which I have just ordered from an Amazon marketplace vendor.

No, I got it in its original incarnation many moons ago, when the distinctive Accent beige cover was supplemented by a light blue version, to denote live recordings. Bizarrely, the two discs were sold in separate jewel cases, not in a box. I love the resonant acoustic, which allows the period pianos to sound very ethereal.

But that new box is a very useful bargain, grouping all the Immerseel/Accent recordings together. I have them already, so can save a bit of money there! I particularly love the Beethoven sonatas/bagatelles disc, featuring a wonderful Graf. And the romantic works for oboe and fortepiano disc is delightful, too.