Stabat mater [compact disc]
2021
Music
This release by Ensemble Resonanz is noteworthy in several ways. First, Ensemble Resonanz is not a Baroque group but has specialized mostly in contemporary music, sometimes in combination with standard repertory. Perhaps there's more money in even the much-recorded Pergolesi "Stabat Mater" than in their usual fare, or perhaps the motivation was purely artistic. Ensemble Resonanz plays in a historically oriented style, with period bows and, more strikingly, in meantone temperament. Listen to the intervals of a third; the major thirds are brighter, the minor thirds darker, and that plays into the most distinctive feature of the album: the radical emotionalism of the interpretation by Ensemble Resonanz and conductor Riccardo Minasi. Minasi takes the position that for an audience of the 1720s, Pergolesi's music was a real shock, not just the stylistic turning point represented in music history textbooks, but an absolute sensation. Performing the usual version of the "Stabat Mater" with two solo female singers and ensemble (it was probably written with two castrati in mind), Minasi offers lingered-on dissonances, sharp contrasts, and some striking tempos in, for example, the final "Quando corpus morietur," which seems to enter a kind of somber stasis. Soloists Giulia Semenzato and Lucile Richardot respond with great sympathy to Minasi's ideas. In support of his reading, Minasi can point to the fact that numerous works in the second quarter of the 18th century were attributed to Pergolesi in the hope of goosing sales. One of these, the "Salve a duo" of composer Joan Rossell, concludes the program here, and it's a gem that in Minasi's hands even extends Pergolesi's emotionalism. For intermezzo, there's a "Sonata a quattro, Op. 1, No. 4," of Angelo Ragazzi. It was composed before Pergolesi but attests to the tremendous musical importance of Naples, which in the mid-18th century was one of the ten largest cities in the world. Harmonia Mundi's sound from the Friedrich-Ebert-Halle in Hamburg is too live; Minasi's intense reading can stand on its own without the extra engineering help, but this is a "Stabat Mater" that demands attention, even with all the options on the market.
Main title:
Stabat mater [compact disc] / Pergolesi. Sonata a quatro, op. 1 no. 4 / Ragazzi. Salve Regina / Rossell.
Author:
Semenzato, Giulia, singerRichardot, Lucile, singerMinasi, Riccardo, instrumentalist, conductorPergolesi, Giovanni Battista, 1710-1736Ragazzi, Angelo, 1680?-1750Rossell, Joan, 1724-1780Ensemble Resonanz, instrumentalist
Work:
Imprint:
Arles, France : Harmonia Mundi, [2021]℗2021.
Collation:
1 audio disc (64 minutes, 24 seconds) : sound, digital ; 4 3/4 in.
Notes:
Title from disc label.Program notes in English, French and texts in Latin with French, English and German translations inserted in container.Recorded 2020 September Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg, Germany.Vocal selections sung in Latin.
Performers:
Giulia Semenzato, soprano ; Lucile Richardot, mezzo-soprano ; Riccardo Minasi conducting Ensemble Resonanz.
Contents:
Stabat Mater / Giovanni Battista PergolesiSonata a quattro op.1 no. 4 / Angelo RagazziSalve a duo (Salve Regina for two voices) / Joan Rossell.
Dewey class:
782.27
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
718695
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| City Library | CD Music Classical Vocal | CLASSICAL VOCAL STAB | On loan - Due: 06 Jul 2026 |