Verdi: Requiem; Rossini: Stabat Mater (2006)

This budget two-disc set, combining a 1994 British recording of Verdi's Requiem mass with a 1960 Rossini Stabat Mater, might seem to be one of those random bargain-bin releases that does nothing but degrade the value of concert music. In the event, however, the two performances hang together in interesting ways, and while no one would pick these as reference recordings, they are well executed and far from dull. The Rossini work, with an outsized Choir of St. Hedwig's Cathedral, a quartet of fine soloists including a ... Read More

This budget two-disc set, combining a 1994 British recording of Verdi's Requiem mass with a 1960 Rossini Stabat Mater, might seem to be one of those random bargain-bin releases that does nothing but degrade the value of concert music. In the event, however, the two performances hang together in interesting ways, and while no one would pick these as reference recordings, they are well executed and far from dull. The Rossini work, with an outsized Choir of St. Hedwig's Cathedral, a quartet of fine soloists including a delectable Pilar Lorengar, and the already startlingly sheen-y Berlin Philharmonic, is a pure piece of economic-miracle luxury, not especially giving Rossini's operatic tunes the lightness they need (sample CD 2, track 6, the "Cujus animam gementem" tenor solo, for a good example of the flavor of the whole) but making up for that in sheer surface beauty. The 1960 sound is remarkably smooth, and there's really no issue of contrast in sound environment as you go from Verdi to Rossini in the... Read Less

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2007, EMI UPC: 094637593622 CD See All