Rossini's Stabat Mater: Recommended Recordings?

[DaveF]

Ronseal

[Jared]

this one is always considered to be near the top... the Hickox version is also very good.

[DaveF]

Thanks Jared. Having a quick look at Amazon there seems to be no shortage of well reviewed recordings.

[fergus]

Thanks Jared. Having a quick look at Amazon there seems to be no shortage of well reviewed recordings.

It is not a work that I particularly took to Dave so I will be interested to see what you eventually choose.

[Ciaran]

BAL first choice, April 2011.
Gramophone Disc of the Month, January 2011.

I thought it was wonderful! Must listen again tomorrow evening!

[Ciaran]

I see from the other thread that you don't need me to recommend Pappano to you!

[Jose Echenique]

this one is always considered to be near the top... the Hickox version is also very good.

The Chung is my favourite recording...by faaaar. I can´t stand the Hickox though, none of the soloists have a clue on how to sing Rossini, the mezzo and the tenor are particularly dreadful, but they all sound foreign to the idiom.
The Pappano is also very good, but Anna Netrebko can´t begin to compete with the glorious performance of Luba Orgonasova with Myung Whun-Chung. Joyce DiDonato on the other hand is more than a match for Bartoli, in fact she is the best reason to buy the Pappano besides his conducting.
Another recording I like a lot is in Harmonia Mundi with Marcus Creed, the Academy of Ancient Music Berlin and the RIAS Kammerchor, a period performance of course, and an excellent one. Krassimira Stoyanova, the soprano, is admirable without challenging the vocal glory of Orgonasova.
But really, it would be a big mistake NOT to buy the Myung Whun-Chung version.

[Jared]

I can´t stand the Hickox though, none of the soloists have a clue on how to sing Rossini, the mezzo and the tenor are particularly dreadful, but they all sound foreign to the idiom.

Third Ear Guide:

'Hickox and the LSChorus & City of London Sinfonia have the real goods: lots of silken sounds and authentic Italian drive and style.'

Penguin Guide:

Hickox: Key Recording, Rosette, ****

'Richard Hickox rightly presents Rossini's SM warmly and with gutsy strength. All four soloists here are first rate, not Italianate of tone but full and warm, and the LSChorus sings with fine attack as well as producing the most refined pianissimos in the unaccompanied quartet, here as usual given to the full chorus rather than to the soloists. Full-bodied and atmospheric sound.

Nothing mentioned about anyone singing dreadfully there, Pepe... neither do I hear them, I'm afraid.

[Jose Echenique]

I can´t stand the Hickox though, none of the soloists have a clue on how to sing Rossini, the mezzo and the tenor are particularly dreadful, but they all sound foreign to the idiom.

Third Ear Guide:

'Hickox and the LSChorus & City of London Sinfonia have the real goods: lots of silken sounds and authentic Italian drive and style.'

Penguin Guide:

Hickox: Key Recording, Rosette, ****

'Richard Hickox rightly presents Rossini's SM warmly and with gutsy strength. All four soloists here are first rate, not Italianate of tone but full and warm, and the LSChorus sings with fine attack as well as producing the most refined pianissimos in the unaccompanied quartet, here as usual given to the full chorus rather than to the soloists. Full-bodied and atmospheric sound.

Nothing mentioned about anyone singing dreadfully there, Pepe... neither do I hear them, I'm afraid.

Oh Jared, it´s the English themselves who made those reviews, you should look for some Italian reviews to see what THEY think about the Hickox recording. One can understand that the English are proud of their great orchestras and many fine musicians, but they suffer more than most from musical chauvinism. To say that the four soloists "are first rate and...full and warm" one wonders what the hell this reviewer was listening to...certainly not the Chandos recording.
When I read the Gramophone or other British magazines reviews I´m always suspicious when they compare an English performer with another of a different nationality. If we were to believe blindly what they write Simon Rattle and Christopher Hogwood would be the greatest musicians on earth, and Sinopoli and Harnoncourt some of the worst.
Here is an excerpt from the original Gramophone review of the Myung Whun-Chung recording by their Rossini expert Richard Osborne, even though he is still much too kind with Hickox and his soloists, you can read between the lines the undeniable shortcomings:

"This is where the performance differs markedly from the Hickox. There the soloists sing their solo numbers in far more open and extrovert manner. In the case of the tenor this works to Hickox's disadvantage, since Arthur Davies in extrovert mood merely sounds coarse and is no match for Raul Gimènez when he is being encouraged by Chung to husband his rescources and sing with honeyed charm. Hickox has the better bass in Roderick Earle, but, again, Chung sees his soloist through very effectively. Between Della Jones and Cecilia Bartoli there is simply no comparison; for Jones and Hickox "Fac ut portem" is a dramatic oration, for Bartoli and Chung it is a private meditation. You pay your money and you take your choice. Chung's soprano Luba Orgonasova is splendid."

First of all Hickox`s basso is nowhere as good as Roberto Scianduzzi for Chung, that´s a typical British review exaggeration, just look at their respective careers to see where they stand, and even more alarming, Della Jones just doesn´t belong in the same league as Cecilia Bartoli. But Osborne at least is honest enough to accept how terrible is Arthur Davies.

[Jose Echenique]

As for the Penguin guide Rosette I strongly warn against their reviews. According to Ivan March the Karajan DG Carmen is the one to have. They must be completely out of their minds, that is an atrocious recording, and to give it precedence over the Abbado or Solti recordings is quite simply insane, just as silly as giving the Hickox Stabat Mater the Rosette.