Verdi: Messa solenne [Import]

Giuseppe Verdi (Composer), Riccardo Chailly (Conductor), Giuseppe Verdi Orchestra (Orchestra), Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan (Orchestra), Elisabetta Scano (Performer), Cristina Gallardo-Domas (Performer), Juan Diego Flórez (Performer), Kenneth Tarver (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Elisabetta Scano, Cristina Gallardo-Domas, Juan Diego Flórez, Kenneth Tarver
• Orchestra: Giuseppe Verdi Orchestra, Giuseppe Verdi Symphony Orchestra of Milan
• Conductor: Riccardo Chailly
• Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
• Audio CD (December 13, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Decca Import
• ASIN: B000055ZQS
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #356,830 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming - but mostly for the Verdi completist, January 29, 2010

By 

Ralph Moore "Ralph operaphile" (Bishop's Stortford, UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Verdi: Messa solenne (Audio CD)

I am surprised to find that this disc has not yet been reviewed on Amazon, given that the first five items are "World Premiere Recordings" of newly discovered works, made as part of the Verdi centennial in 2001, though in truth that might reflect the essentially insubstantial nature of much of the music on offer here.

The programme consists of religious music spanning almost fifty years of Verdi's output, from the youthful Messa solenne to the 1880 settings of paraphrases attributed to Dante. The main item from both a quality and musicological point of view, is the proto-Libera me, composed in 1869 for Rossini's memorial mass but never performed, and of course eventually incorporated into the Manzoni Requiem with some vital enhancements and improvements. From a canary-fancier's perspective, the main attraction is in the performances by two lovely lyric tenors, then rising stars Juan Diego Flórez and Kenneth Tarver, and soprano Cristina Gallardo-Domâs, who sings beautifully, especially in the Ave Maria. Neither of the woolly basses gives me much pleasure but they have little to sing. The early music is mostly sub-Rossini and hardly proleptic of Verdi's later style, whereas the large choral scale, advanced dissonances and the evident intent of paying homage to Palestrina evinced in two late pieces confirm that they are close cousins to the Four Sacred Songs of eight years later. It is the quality of singing in combination with the rich complexity and subtle harmonies of these two late works which urge me to confer another star on this disc, which would otherwise have been of marginal interest only.

Chailly and his Milan forces play and sing beautifully, and the recording is fine, although I am slightly bothered by some rumble through the Ave Maria (air conditioning? It was made in July in Milan.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A glorious recording, June 12, 2011

By 

JayBe (Birrwill) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Verdi: Messa solenne (Audio CD)

I simply don't have sufficient background and knowledge to write a review of the same level of Mr. Moore's (which I mainly agree with), but I will just say, from a relatively amateur point of view, that the power and conviction with which this recording is sung makes it one of my all-time favorites to put in and turn up on Sunday mornings! You won't be disappointed. I wonder if there is a Requieum sung like this..