BaL 24.10.20 - Pergolesi: Stabat Mater

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am
Building a Library
Using “blind listening”, Jeremy Summerly has whittled down recordings of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater to a shortlist of the very best. He discusses his choices with Andrew and presents his ultimate, personal recommendation.

Available versions:-

Jonah Schenkel, Alex Potter, Barockorchester Capriccio, Zürcher Sängerknaben, Alphons von Aarburg

Sara Mingardo, Rachel Harnisch, Orchestra Mozart, Claudio Abbado

Gemma Bertagnolli, Sara Mingardo, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

Lucy Crowe, Tim Mead, La Nuova Musica, David Bates

Dorothea Röschmann, David Daniels, Europa Galante, Fabio Biondi

Sofia Boys’ Choir, Adriana Blagoeva *

Angharad Gruffydd Jones, Lawrence Zazzo, Zazzo Instrumental Ensemble, Timothy Brown

Judith Raskin, Maureen Lehane, Orchestra Rossini Di Napoli, Franco Caracciolo *

Mieke van der Sluis, Gérard Lesne, Clemencic Consort, René Clemencic *

Daniel Cuiller, Véronique Dietschy, Ensemble Stradivaria, Paul Colléaux *

Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu, Franck-Emmanuel Comte

Katia Ricciarelli, Manuela Custer, I Filarmonici di Bologna, Giorgio Croci

Patrizia Bovi, Pino de Vittorio, Les Pages & les Chantres de la Chapelle, Le Poème Harmonique, Vincent Dumestre

Arno Meier, Florent Maigrot, Marie Planinsek, Damien Guillon, Bruno Le Levreur, Les Pages et Chantres de la Chapelle, Le Poème Harmonique, Vincent Dumestre

June Anderson, Cecilia Bartoli, Sinfonietta de Montréal, Charles Dutoit *

Elisabeth Scholl, Alexander Schneider, Baroque Orchestra L’arpa Festante, Alexander Eberle *

Julia Lezhneva, Philippe Jaroussky, I Barocchisti, Diego Fasolis

Silvia Frigato, Sara Mingardo, Accademia degli Astrusi, Federico Ferri

Elin Manahan Thomas, Robin Blaze, Florilegium *

Anna Prohaska, Bernarda Fink, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Bernhard Forck *

Karine Deshayes, Sonya Yoncheva, Amarillis, Violaine Cochard, Héloïse Gaillard

Magda Kalmar, Julia Hamari, Hungarian Radio and Television Chorus, Budapest Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Lamberto Gardelli *

Evelyn Tubb, Terrance Barber, New Trinity Baroque, Predrag Gosta *

Mirella Freni, Teresa Berganza, Solisti dell’orchestra “Scarlatti” Napoli, Ettore Gracis

Alfreda Hodgson, Felicity Palmer, Choir Of St. John’s College, Cambridge. Argo Chamber Orchestra, George Guest

Jochen Kowalski, Dennis Naseband, Kammerorchester Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Hartmut Haenchen

Anna Gonda, Julia Faulkner, Camerata Budapest, Michael Halász

Marjana Lipovsek, Eva Mei, Concentus Musicus Wien, Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Olga Shiryaeva, Olga Guseva, Cologne New Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, Volker Hartung *

Kathleen Ferrier, Joan Taylor, Boyd Neel String Orchestra, Nottingham Oriana Choir, Roy Henderson

Valer Barna-Sabadus. Terry Wey, Neumeyer Consort & Ensemble Barock Vokal Mainz, Michael Hofstetter

Emma Kirkby, James Bowman, Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood

Veronika Winter, Stuttgart Hymnus Boys Choir & Handel’s Company, Rainer Johannes Homburg (SACD)

Martina Borst, Regina Klepper, Bamberg String Quartet, Berthold Hops

Emma Kirkby, Catherine Denley, St Albans Abbey Girls Choir, London Baroque, Simon Johnson *

Dragica Kovacic, Svetlana Cursiana, Camerata Labacensis, Stane Jurgec *

Margaret Marshall, Alfreda Hodgson, Mainzer Kammerorchester, Gunter Kehr *

Gillian Fisher, Michael Chance, The King’s Consort, Robert King

Dorothea Roschmann, Catherine Robbin, Les Violons du Roy, Bernard Labadie *

Véronique Gens, Gérard Lesne, Il seminario Musicale, Gérard Lesne *

Susanne Rydén, Mikael Bellini, Members of the Stockholm Baroque Orchestra, Maria Lindal (SACD)

Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir & Members of the Cambridge University Baroque Ensemble, Sarah MacDonald

Jörg Waschinski, Michael Chance, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Müller-Brühl

Amaryllis Dieltiens, Clint van der Linde, Capriola di Gioia, Bart Naessens

Anna Netrebko, Marianna Pizzolato, Orchestra dell’ Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Antonio Pappano *

Le Collegium Baroque, Rémy Fombon, Paul Laumont, Benoît Petit *

Nuria Rial, Carlos Mena, Ricercar Consort, Philippe Pierlot

Teresa Stich-Randall, Elisabeth Höngen, Wiener Philharmoniker, Wiener Akademie-Chor, Mario Rossi

Barbara Bonney, Andreas Scholl, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Sandrine Piau, Christopher Lowrey, Les Talens Lyriques, Christophe Rousset

Westfalische Kantorei, Capella Agostino Steffani, Hildebrand Haake,Lajos Rovátkay

Knabenchor der Chorakademie Dortmund, Jost Salm

Tölzer Knabenchor, English Baroque Ensemble, Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden *

Lucia Valentini Terrani, Ileana Cotrubas,Claudio Scimone *

Chiarastella Onorati, Bettina Rubortone, Orchestra da Camera Benedetto Marcello, Flavio Emilio Scogna

Concerto Vocale, Sebastian Hennig, René Jacobs *

Sara Macliver, Sally-Anne Russell, Orchestra of the Antipodes, Antony Walker


(* = download onl0)

[vinteuil]

.

... if you ever find yourself in Iesi (in the Marche), do go and look at the monument to Pergolesi, featuring a marble grand piano with a fountain issuing from above the pedals - quite the most extraordinary thing :

https://www.qdmnotizie.it/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200131_180133.jpg

https://www.flickr.com/photos/marchebreaks/22670844183

.

[Pulcinella]

YouTube with score version of
Nuria Rial, Carlos Mena, Ricercar Consort, Philippe Pierlot
(to judge from the picture near the start) here:

https://youtu.be/ufy4AGOFVAI

(Also posted on YouTube videos with score thread.)

[verismissimo]

Why is there such a vast list of Stabat Mater recordings when there is so much more sacred music and also several operas by Pergolesi, including La serva padrona?

BTW the Prohaska/Fink/Forck is available in the superb (and inexpensive) 30CD set LUMIERES from harmonia mundi.

[CallMePaul]

I am amazed that there are so many recordings! I have the Alessandrini which is fine, though I have to admit that I prefer the Alessandro Scarlatti Stabat Mater with which the Pergolesi is coupled. I am sure I will enjoy this BAL, as Jeremy Summerly has generally been a good guide in his previous appearances in the slot.

[Goon525]

I wonder how Mr Summerly achieves blind listening, unless he has an assistant?

[Darloboy]

This will be the 4th time since 1991 that this work has been covered by BaL, although this will be the first programme not to be broadcast in April!

Back in April 1992 Nicholas Anderson chose Hogwood; in April 2005 Simon Heighes picked Rousset (the recording with Scholl & Bonney) with Alessandrini as a budget price choice; and in April 2010 Simon Heighes (again) chose Abbado.

The Hogwood with Emma Kirkby and James Bowman was the first version I heard and it's one of my favourite recordings of all time.

As it's Jeremy Summerly presenting this programme, he'll probably make a choral version first choice! I find him unbearable so I think I'll give this one a miss.

It would be nice if BaL would cover one of Pergolesi's other works some day - there are certainly enough recordings of eg La Serva Padrone to fill up a programme.

[mikealdren]

I wonder how Mr Summerly achieves blind listening, unless he has an assistant?

Thank goodness it wasn't a deaf listening.

[MickyD]

This will be the 4th time since 1991 that this work has been covered by BaL, although this will be the first programme not to be broadcast in April!

Back in April 1992 Nicholas Anderson chose Hogwood; in April 2005 Simon Heighes picked Rousset (the recording with Scholl & Bonney) with Alessandrini as a budget price choice; and in April 2010 Simon Heighes (again) chose Abbado.

The Hogwood with Emma Kirkby and James Bowman was the first version I heard and it's one of my favourite recordings of all time.

As it's Jeremy Summerly presenting this programme, he'll probably make a choral version first choice! I find him unbearable so I think I'll give this one a miss.

It would be nice if BaL would cover one of Pergolesi's other works some day - there are certainly enough recordings of eg La Serva Padrone to fill up a programme.

In full agreement over the Hogwood recording, though to be fair, I've not heard so many of the more recent recordings.

[richardfinegold]

.

... if you ever find yourself in Iesi (in the Marche), do go and look at the monument to Pergolesi, featuring a marble grand piano with a fountain issuing from above the pedals - quite the most extraordinary thing :

https://www.qdmnotizie.it/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/20200131_180133.jpg

https://www.flickr.com/photos/marchebreaks/22670844183

.

Is this historically correct? Wouldn’t Pergo have used a Harpsichord?

[Wolfram]

Back in April 1992 Nicholas Anderson chose Hogwood; in April 2005 Simon Heighes picked Rousset (the recording with Scholl & Bonney) with Alessandrini as a budget price choice; and in April 2010 Simon Heighes (again) chose Abbado.

I think there is a mistake on the BaL excel spreadsheet - it won't be only one. I think Simon Heighes picked Antonio Florio on Eloquentia back in April 2010. I didn't see this one on EA's list. I assume that it is no longer available.

[Darloboy]

I think there is a mistake on the BaL excel spreadsheet - it won't be only one. I think Simon Heighes picked Antonio Florio on Eloquentia back in April 2010. I didn't see this one on EA's list. I assume that it is no longer available.

Thanks Wolfram, you’re absolutely right - apologies for the error. I should know better than to rely on the BBC fact sheets. Also Simon Heighes’ 1st choice for the Bach cantata adaptation BWV 1083 was Emma Kirkby, Daniel Taylor and the Theatre of Early Music

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Extremely waffling this morning.

[Goon525]

Extremely waffling this morning.

In what way? Seemed reasonable to me.

[MickyD]

Extremely waffling this morning.

Strange, I thought just the opposite - a good selection of different versions and a lot of information given by the reviewer and - praise be - much less intervention on the part of AMG.