Customer Reviews

Vivaldi: Gloria (Tesori del Piemonte, Vol. 43)

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

 

 

Conductor/musicologist Rinaldo Alessandrini has recorded the more familiar of Vivaldi's two Glorias, the one designated RV 589, the one that begins with those unforgettable bouncing octaves, at least once before. This one is with his own Concerto Italiano, which comprises both original-instruments ensemble and singers (all Italian), and it doesn't differ all that much from the one he recorded with Concerto Italiano and a French chorus, Akademia Vivaldi: Gloria Magnificat. Both versions have the fastest opening movement ('Gloria in excelsis Deo') that you are ever likely to hear. Somehow it works, although I don't know how the chorus and orchestra do it. (The 'Laudamus te' is almost as fast and its two sopranos get gold medals for making it believable at that tempo. And the chorus deserves praise for its beautiful and accurate singing in the fast 'Propter magnam gloriam tuam'.) This performance is different from the earlier version in that Alessandrini opens it with a work he has tacked on, 'Ostro picta, armata spina', which is a two aria cantata for orchestra and soprano (sung meltingly by a member of the Concerto Italiano chorus, Monica Piccinini). He offers rather tortuous reasoning for having done so, but I'm glad he did because it is simply beautiful.

But the real reason for buying this disc is the performance of the second of Vivaldi's Glorias, designated RV 588. And that's because Sara Mingardo, surely one of the most talented of any current coloratura contraltos, sings in four of its solo movements. Her chocolate-syrup voice is perfect for this music. This is not to say that the orchestra, chorus and other soloists don't do a marvelous job; they do. But it is Mingardo's contribution that makes this performance really stand out.

A strong recommendation.

Scott Morrison

Vivaldi doesn't get as much respect as his contemporaries Bach and Handel, but the ongoing Vivaldi Edition from Naïve may be changing that perception. While introducing us to many superb but little known works by the Red Priest, it is also offering new perspectives on familiar ones, such as the Gloria RV589. This recording also includes the lesser known Gloria RV588. In addition, both Glorias are prefaced by solo motets that, according to conductor Ricardo Alessandrini, were designed to "enrich" and "decorate" the main musical event--"Ostra picta" ("Crimson-hued rose") and "Jubilate, O amoeni chori" ("Rejoice, O delightful choirs").

Contralto Sara Mingardo deservedly gets star billing here, but the other soloists are also fine, especially soprano Monica Piccinni, who sings "Ostra picta." The singers and players of Concerto Italiano, under Alessandrini's direction, also deliver the vibrant, high-quality performances that we have come to expect of them in the baroque repertory. They make Vivaldi's well-known Gloria seem new and fresh.

Normally I like Alessandrini and he generally chooses very good singers to work with, but while I liked the accompanying ensemble on this recording, the singers left me less than impressed. They were certainly pleasant, but that's hardly why one listens to this music. Mingardo was clearly the best here, but even her performance was not among her best. She has sounded much better on other recordings with Alessandrini--the Nisi Dominus, for example, is fantastic. And there were tracks on which she sang but was almost unrecognizable as herself. This was decidedly a weak performance and it was not helped by the hair-raising tempos--faster is not always better, especially when the singers have to white-knuckle it through the piece. The recordings of the Glorias by Robert King, while a little too English, are highly preferable to these. It's too bad, I was excited to get these and really wanted to like them, but probably won't listen to them again.

As someone who listens to and performs a lot of classical music, it's rare to hear a recording that surprises you, especially of a piece that is so popular and so commonly performed as the Vivaldi Gloria (well, RV589--that's the popular one). I've had this piece in my ear since high school and I have to have sung it at least four times throughout my career. But I have never performed it, or heard it performed, quite like this.

To me, Neville Marriner has set the standard for recording the Gloria RV589 (see Bach: Magnificat - Vivaldi: Gloria in D, a recording I highly recommend). This one is starkly different from Mr. Marriner's. It's very...well, it's very Italian. Mr. Alessandrini's brave choices in tempi, the crisp engineering, and the very small size of the ensemble made this recording feel very fresh and exciting to me. I was unprepared for and wowed by this, and think it's a very effective take on the work.

I highly recommend this recording, especially if you already have the Marriner. It may not be the best to buy if you want to get a feel for how the Vivaldi Gloria is most commonly performed, but if you enjoy the idea of a cheeky conductor saying "Suck it!" to common performance practices, you should definitely pick this up.

I love classical music, love Baroque, and have great admiration for Alessandrini and the Concerto Italiano. He has made some wonderful Vivaldi recordings available on both Naive and Brilliant Classics, as well as other small European labels. This isn't one of them. This is an unfortunate mistake.

The Sound: The Naïve engineering in flawless. Close, with just the right amount of reverb, and equalized to perfection.

Th Performance. To my ears, he takes things way too fast or way too slow, driving twenty thousand leagues beneath any emotional connection to the underlying reason for the music - whatsoever. The faster pieces, like the Domine Fili Unigenite, are so fast you'd think your CD player was skipping if it weren't for the absence of the "pop" and "clicks" that usually accompany that annoying phenomenon. In the "Laudumus Te," tempo so slow the soloists gasping for air and breathing in places loudly enough to sound like they are being pressed to death. The phrasing is just inexcusable. And if you want faster and to hear singers singing sixteenth note runs like they just overdosed on speed and dexedrine, find the earlier version Alessandrini did on Opus 111.

Other works on the CD aren't quite as bad, but I still want to slap the conductor in the face for senseless self indulgence. Listen to this somewhere on the web before you get your credit card out. If he were trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, that would be something else entirely. What's next? A four minute "Messiah?" The conductors other contributions to the Vivaldi Edition are stunning, but I just don't like his interpretation of the Gloria. If you are buying your first copy of this work, try John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir.

I love classical music, love Baroque, and have great admiration for Alessandrini and the Concerto Italiano. He has made some wonderful Vivaldi recordings available on both Naive and Brilliant Classics, as well as other small European labels. This isn't one of them. This is an unfortunate mistake.

The Sound: The Naïve engineering in flawless. Close, with just the right amount of reverb, and equalized to perfection.

Th Performance. To my ears, he takes things way too fast or way too slow, driving twenty thousand leagues beneath any emotional connection to the underlying reason for the music - whatsoever. The faster pieces, like the Domine Fili Unigenite, are so fast you'd think your CD player was skipping if it weren't for the absence of the "pop" and "clicks" that usually accompany that annoying phenomenon. In the "Laudumus Te," tempo so slow the soloists gasping for air and breathing in places loudly enough to sound like they are being pressed to death. The phrasing is just inexcusable. And if you want faster and to hear singers singing sixteenth note runs like they just overdosed on speed and dexedrine, find the earlier version Alessandrini did on Opus 111.

Other works on the CD aren't quite as bad, but the conductor is still guilty of senseless self indulgence. Listen to the previews before you get your credit card out. If he were trying to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, that would be something else entirely. What's next? A four minute "Messiah?" The conductor's other contributions to the Vivaldi Edition are stunning, but I just don't like his interpretation of the Gloria. If you are buying your first copy of this work, try John Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir.