Gioachino Rossini - Petite Messe Solennelle (Antonio Pappano)

Information

Composer: Gioachino Rossini

• Petite Messe Solennelle

Marina Rebeka, soprano

Sara Mingardo, contralto

Francesco Meli, tenor

Alex Esposito, bass

Coro e Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

Antonio Pappano, conductor

Date: 2013

Label: EMI Classics

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Review

In terms of scale, the so-called ‘Little Missa solemnis’ of Rossini’s old age is famously not little at all, but very much a full-length concert mass. Then again, the music’s idiom is remarkably light on its feet. The work began life in a version designed for private performance in the chapel of one of the composer’s aristocratic friends in Paris, and was scored for small choir and an accompaniment of two pianos and harmonium. Rossini’s subsequent full-orchestral version implies a larger style of performance – but to what extent?

Antonio Pappano opts for a strong-limbed, purposeful approach that has the music sounding neither trite nor portentous, pleasingly bringing together its charm and expansiveness. String tone, though quite weighty, is focused in firm lines; woodwind and brass vibrato is reduced, but not tendentiously so; and the not over-large choral and orchestral forces are super-accurate in the two deft and speedy fugues that conclude the Gloria and Credo.

The four high-quality soloists tread the same fine line with likeable sureness, while blending nicely together: Franceso Meli, a notch strident above mezzo-forte, offers quiet musicianship elsewhere, while Sara Mingardo’s dark and sumptuous mezzo is beautifully supple and precise. The recording comes from a series of concerts given in Rome’s Sala Santa Cecilia, complete with the expected minor distractions of the audience; the acoustic is clear and comfortable, and the balance between voices and orchestra very good.

-- Malcolm Hayes, BBC Music Magazine

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Apr13/Rossini_mass_4167422.htm

https://www.allmusic.com/album/rossini-petite-messe-solennelle-mw0002497406

https://www.amazon.com/Rossini-Petite-Solennelle-Marina-Rebeka/dp/B00BK40QH2

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Gioachino Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who wrote operas, as well as some sacred music, songs, chamber music and piano pieces. Rossini had been the most popular opera composer in history, and he was one of the most renowned public figures of his time. A tendency for inspired, song-like melodies is evident throughout his scores, earning him the nickname "The Italian Mozart". A few of Rossini's operas remained popular throughout his lifetime and continuously since his death; others were resurrected from semi-obscurity in the last half of the 20th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gioachino_Rossini

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Antonio Pappano (born 30 December 1959 in Epping, Essex) is an English-Italian conductor and pianist. After musical training in piano, composition, and conducting, he became a rehearsal accompanist at the New York City Opera by the age of 21. Pappano attracted the attention of Daniel Barenboim, and became his assistant at the Bayreuth Festival. He also worked in Barcelona and Frankfurt, and served as an assistant to Michael Gielen. Pappano has been music director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden since 2002, and of the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia since 2005.

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

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