Customer Reviews

Pergolesi - Stabat Mater · Salve Regina / Kirkby · Bowman · AAM · Hogwood

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have listened to at least 5 other recordings of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater and found the version by L'Oiseau-Lyre the best by far. I am a singer myself, although an amateur with experience in serious choirs such as the Academic Choir Tone Tomsic from Slovenia (won the European Grand Prix 2002 at the 14th choral competition in Arezzo, Italy) and have a preference for a clear voice with a very careful and controlled use of vibrato. This recording was the only one I could find that would fulfill my requirements. Besides, Bowman's performance is really outstanding, and you can really feel the tension (in a good sense) on those high notes. I believe that the use of countertenor brings a very special warm feeling to high notes that I was not able to find in the recordings with an alto (low female voice). It has a certain intimate touch that I certainly prefer. This recording is without a doubt a must for a serious music lover.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was one of the most remarkable composers of the Baroque period. Despite his extremely brief career (he died of tuberculosis at 26 years of age) he left an impressive body of work that includes some of the finest pieces of sacred music ever written. Two of his most famous works (Stabat Mater for soprano and alto and Salve Regina for soprano in C minor) are included in this recording.

Emma Kirkby captures the poignancy of these pieces with outstanding ability and delivers two of her best performances ever. She's an exceptional musician - unaffected, subtle, sincere and technically flawless. James Bowman also provides a very fine performance but the Stabat Mater is more of a challenge for him and he sounds a little overwhelmed sometimes. However, the interplay between both singers is amazing. Salve Regina is an equally beautiful piece and Emma Kirkby gives another wonderful performance. Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music are as stunning as ever, they manage to bring freshness and immediacy to the Stabat Mater - no small feat considering the rather solemn subject matter - and the Salve Regina shines with almost preternatural beauty. Pergolesi was a very innovative and daring composer, and these renditions show his works in all their sombre and passionate glory.

Like many other listeners, I was first introduced to the Stabat Mater by the Marshall/Terrani/Abbado recording. However, I encountered Giordano Bruno's one-star review on that page, and was inspired to try both the Kirkby/Bowman/Hogwood and Gens/Lesne recordings.

I have come to the conclusion that the Abbado recording is frankly terrible, the Kirkby/Bowman/Hogwood reasonably good, and the Gens/Lesne superb. Before I do a detailed comparison of the latter two recordings, I want to briefly speak on the weaknesses of the Abbado recording. The tempos are far too slow. The singers have an extremely wide vibrato that ruins the baroque feel of the music. In short, for those who like Abbado's Beethoven and Bernstein's Mozart Requiem or only Wagner operas, the Abbado Stabat Mater should be a glorious interpretation. This is not to say that any proponent of modern instruments would prefer the Abbado. Rather, those who believe that each performance should be a conduced as a funeral march should prefer the Abbado. I believe that any discerning listener who compares the two recordings, aria by aria, and who looks beyond the grandeur of the Abbado, will appreciate its serious flaws.

General comments: The two period instrument recordings, the Hogwood and the Lesne, are marked by distinct singing styles. The Hogwood does away with vibrato almost entirely. The Lesne, in contrast, almost exclusively involves a style where the quarter note over the bar line of each tie is sung messa di voce. Expect this as you listen to the recordings. I think that the Hogwood goes too far in the direction of lacking vibrato--the minimal, messa di voce approach of the Lesne is far more appealing. The Hogwood also has more pronounced and extreme dynamic changes in the voice parts.

Soprano: Kirkby and Gens

I will start with the closest comparison. From the outset, I will say that I wish Emma Kirkby had joined with Gérard Lesne and performed this under his direction. I would have loved to have heard the results.

Emma Kirkby's control and purity of tone are both very impressive. Most importantly, she can end her notes beautifully and have motion in the line without having to crescendo through them to the end. With that being said, I'm very disappointed by the nasal tone of her "eh" vowels--it really fails to blend with the rest of the music.

Véronique Gens seems to have two personalities in this recording, depending on the speed of the aria. When the aria is fast, she soars above the music like an angel--a perfect mix of tone and movement and energy. However, for the slower arias, her lower register starts to sound a bit breathy. Ironically, this still blends very well with the period instruments.

Ultimately, I feel like it's a toss-up between the two--each has a specific, replicable weakness that shows up multiple times in the recordings. However, Gens' weakness doesn't prevent blending.

Contralto: Bowman and Lesne

Bowman is a good countertenor. Lesne, however, is simply stunning. One night, I decided to listen to the Stabat Mater before going to bed. One duet in, and I couldn't get his voice out of his mind. I listened to the complete recording three more times that night. Lesne's strength is not his range or his power but his amazing consistency--every note begins straight and in-tune, and then opens into a soft flutter as it moves over the bar-line. Bowman is also good at this, but is neither as good, nor able to take advantage of it due to the style of the Hogwood recording.

With that being said, the best part of Lesne is his pianissimo. Bowman suffers a lot in this recording because his voice quickly fades as he gets quieter, which causes him to lose many word endings. Lesne hits almost every consonant in the piece. At some points, Lesne's pianissimo is so quiet that you can barely tell he's singing (this also occurs in the fifth movement of the Salve Regina).

I cannot sing enough praise for Gérard Lesne. His performance in this recording, and the Salve Regina, made me buy seven more CD's of his work--I didn't regret a single one of those purchases. His voice comes the closest to perfection in any voice I have ever heard. Juan Diego Florez is thrilling, Nicolai Ghiaurov is profound, but Gérard Lesne is angelic.

Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music and Il Seminario Musicale

In contrast to some other Il Seminario Musicale CD's published by Virgin, the booklet for this recording does not list the exact orchestration used for the performance. Both orchestras are superb, but I would like to comment on two things.

First, the trills: The Academy of Ancient Music take the trills in the viols at the quickest pace, such that they just flutter in the air. I find this to produce a muddled sound that offers too much of a contrast with the trills of the singers (which are necessarily slower due to the nature of the human voice). In contrast, Il Seminario Musicale makes the trills very precise. One of Bach's greatest strengths was his ability to let instruments speak like voices. (I stole this from Bernstein.) I view the precise trills as a similar way to let Pergolesi's instrumentation speak like a singer would.

Second, the orchestration in the Il Seminario Musicale is slightly different. They seem to have taken a harpsichord and overlayed it on top of the cello parts. This produces a unique and beautiful sound--one that plucks like a harp but still has the resonance of a deeper stringed instrument.


The Gens/Lesne recording is something truly special. It is the recording I would take to a desert island before any other. The Kirkby/Bowman/Hogwood is a beautiful rendition of its style, but ultimately unsatisfying in comparison to the Gens/Lesne.

...in my 300 CD collection. Genius of Pergolesi, pure harmony plus excellence in Emma's voice, plus James Bowman, a countertenor singing the part of an alto. This is what baroque is about, this is what music is about.

Pergolesi - Stabat Mater · Salve Regina / Kirkby · Bowman · AAM · Hogwood is simply put it a sublime recording. Being a devout person at heart this is heartwrenching to listen to and one can feel the intense pain as one listens to this wonderful piece. Emma Kirky is truly a treat to listen to and James Bowman is also quite competent. The book-let is a bit sparse but has a very nice painting on the front, a very well written essay Francesco Degrada (translated DECCA 1989 by Avril Bardoni), and the text for these magnificient works in english, latin, german and french and has also a very nice photograph in on page 4 of Emma Kirkby, James Bowman and Christopher Hogwood. I can not say enough good things about this splendid recording and I give it 5 stars.

I only recently discovered this version of Stabat Mater. The control and harmony produced by Kirkby and Bowman is truly beyond words. As an example track 5 - Quis Est Homo. If this doesn't do something for you, check for a pulse.

Beautiful singing for a beautiful setting of a beautiful music.

I've nothing to add to other reviews, except, that this CD can be heard in Akira Kurosawa's great film, "Rhapsody in August," sections of the Stabat Mater play over decaying angel statues on the site of the Nagasaki atomic bombing.

Christopher Hogwood made one of his formidable achievements of his entire musical career with the reading of both works, hovered of a vast range of expresiveness and steeled approach. Emma Kirby was greatly inspired and the support of the whole ensemble worked out in terms of absolute perfection.

I listened it today and I remaiened speechless. Don't even dount and go for this extraordinary historical document.

I'm not sure if words are the right medium to describe the sweetness and power of this music. Play the music and step back in time, into a different world - the purity of Kirkby's voice against the somewhat unfamiliar timbre of the baroque violins makes for a truly unique sound.

The world of music was robbed by Pergolesi's untimely demise. I had not heard a note of his music before listening to this recording, and I regret not having done so until then. Beautiful!