Pergolesi - Stabat Mater / Ricciarelli, Benedetto Marcello Orchestra (Jubilaeum Collection)

Amazon.com

First, the good news: Pergolesi's Stabat Mater for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and orchestra is one of the baroque era's masterpieces, a profound treatment of the anguish felt by the Virgin Mary as she stood at the foot of the cross watching her son die. The possibilities of a striking video treatment, perhaps alternating views of the performers with Renaissance paintings, statues, possibly even film clips from a biblical movie or two, are enormous. The bad news is that this video recording is not the one Pergolesi deserves in musical interpretation, visuals, or packaging.

It is part of the Jubilaeum Collection commissioned by Pope John Paul II for the celebration of the Year 2000 Jubilee in Rome, and it is a classic example of the fact that good intentions operating without technical expertise are not enough. The packaging emphasizes the presence of soprano Katia Ricciarelli, who was once a great singer. Her name is displayed almost as prominently as the composer's, but she turns out to be the weakest part of the performance, with a voice that lacks power and is often not firmly supported or controlled. Mezzo-soprano Rossana Rinaldi gives a much better performance, but one searches the cover in vain for her name or that of conductor Vito Clemente. The recorded sound and camera work are mediocre. --Joe McLellan

Description

A wonderful addition to the Jubilaeum Collection, this concert, filmed on location in Rome, Italy, features world renowned soprano Katia Ricciarelli and the Orchestra Benedetto Marcello on the Good Friday performance of Giovanni Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater." The fourth concert in the Jubilaeum Collection commissioned by Pope John Paul II and the Vatican in celebration of the Jubilee 2000.

Customer Reviews:

Some of the other concerts in this series are excellent.......2004-11-28

I would not purchase this recording based on the reviews it has received but I have purchase other recordings in this series and they are excellent, of the highest caliber.

Awful.......2000-07-19

After being disappointed with Rossini's Stabat Mater in the Jubilaeum 2000 series, I was hopeful that Pergolesi's would be better. Alas this is not so. The audio is perhaps the worst I have yet come across. The accoustics are terribly flat and dead, and sound as if the performance was recorded in a padded cell and not the Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome. The audio selection is Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 but I noticed that each of the two sopranos had her own microphone and they looked as if they were just small mono models. For much of the time their voices came mainly from the front and rear right speakers, so I changed my seating 90 degrees to the right and listened that way for a while. There was a distinct improvement in what had been a non-existant stereo image! I can only conclude from this that the channels have been mixed wrongly. On track #6 the level of the blond soprano's voice was so low at times as to be barely audible above the orchestra!

Customer Reviews:

Amazingly beautiful.......2005-09-14

this DVD is truly amazing. Instead of a soprano and alto combination, Timothy Brown aquired the talents of Lawrence Zazzo, a wonderful countertenor to sing the alto part. The result is spectacular. Zazzo's voice mixed with the bell-like soprano creates a beautiful mix.
I own this and watch it often. People who know nothing of classical music come to my house and stop and watch, their mouths hanging open in amazement. They simply can't believe how beautiful it sounds.
The filming and direction are adequate, but this film is really about the music, and Zazzo's voice.

Filmed in All Saints church in Aldwincle, England, this DVD is nothing short of inspirational.

If you enjoy Pergolesi's Stabat Mater you will treasure this performance.

Pergolesi - Stabat Mater / Barbara Frittoli, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Riccardo Muti, La Scala

Average customer rating:

Pergolesi Lovers Beware!
Love the entire concept
A very deeply felt Stabat Mater
a beautiy

Pergolesi - Stabat Mater / Barbara Frittoli, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Riccardo Muti, La Scala
Starring: Tina Lattanzi , Lidia Simoneschi , Romolo Costa , Roberto Pasetti , and Gemma Schirato
Director: Guido Brignone
Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: DVD
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Customer Reviews:

Pergolesi Lovers Beware!.......2006-08-13

As much as I venerate Pergolesi's Stabat Mater (or maybe because I revere it so much) I found this DVD disappointing. Meastro Muti informs us in a rambling bonus track interview that he takes issue with the various historically informed interpretations of the Stabat Mater because they lack (and I am paraphrasing) the essential Neapolitan atmosphere and intuition that he, Maestro Muti, possesses in every fiber of his Neapolitan Being. Well, I'm sorry, Il Muti may feel very intensely about this work (he points out that Bellini regarded the Stabat Mater as Pergolesi's "poem of pain") but this performance plods not only in tempo but in a kind uniform temperment applied from section to section. The melancholy is there to a small degree but I heard no pain in those expressive suspensions found in the opening moments of the work. Neither is there is much of the fresh youthfulness and the what-must-have-sounded-so-modern-in-its-day galant sparkle that this Stabat Mater also possesses. In short, I found the performance very one-dimensional and not particularly passionate from the conductor's standpoint. Muti's detachment makes Antonacci's occasional histrionics rather at odds with the performance actually taking place. As for the singers (which make or break any performance of this work), they are lovely in their way but their way is, to my taste, more Verdian than Pergolesian. I mean when one can't determine the difference between a trill and a full-throated vibrato, I think we have Pergolesi dressed in the wrong musical garment. The bonus track of Muti is, as previously stated, rather rambling and full of self-serving rectitude that the performance simply does not support. The other bonus track of Pergolesi background is very short and not very illuminating. If like your Pergolesi Stabat Mater served up in the old tradition that was once so magnificently captured on vinyl by Mirella Freni and Teresa Berganza, you will probably eat this DVD up with a dessert spoon and think this review to be dead wrong. If you lean toward the CD version of Barbara Booney and Andreas Scholl or any of the fine male soprano and male alto versions, you should probably not splurge for this performance.

Love the entire concept.......2004-09-28

This DVD is truly beautiful in concept and in performance. I love everything Barbara Frittoli sings, and this is no exception. Buy it. The music and the artworks are magnificent.

A very deeply felt Stabat Mater.......2004-07-12

I have always loved this work and have several CD versions of it. This DVD gave me goose bumps when I first played it. It is gloriously filmed and beautifully sung. The orchestra is also great. Sound and image clarity are both superb. You can feel the pain and passion in the words and music. The singers'voices blend very well. The Church is beautiful and we get to feel that we are there as the cameramen skilfully "show us the sights", the gorgeous artwork. The only negative is that the musical content is a bit short, at about 48 minutes. A "filler" piece to make the concert longer would have been nice.

a beautiy.......2004-07-03

this one is a slow (even very slow) version of this mastepiece. Still it's a really good one and captures the spirit of Pergolesi. Barbara Frittoli and Anna Caterina Antonacci are doind a splendid work while Riccardo Muti lets the music flow without inforcing himself on the musicians. A real must.

Average customer rating:

Stabat Mater
Starring: Bach , Pergolesi , Argenta , Laurans , and Fasolis
Manufacturer: Euroarts
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0007XHKSA
Release Date: 2005-04-19

Average customer rating:

Static, Stodgy, Historically Uninformed
Wonderful performance piece
Looking for An Hour or so of Absolute Peace in your Mind?
Beautiful

Stabat Mater (pergolesi)
Starring: Xavier Guittet , Nelly Borgeaud , Jean-Louis Richard , Nathalie Bécue , and Claude Viala
Director: Dominique Boccarossa
Manufacturer: Alpha Centauri (germany)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Carl Nielsen - The Complete Symphonies

ASIN: B00007149F
Release Date: 2002-10-08

Customer Reviews:

Static, Stodgy, Historically Uninformed.......2006-10-02

There's no other video performance to compare this disk with, but I think most music-lovers would be better pleased with a CD. The cinematography is arbitrary at best, distracting at worst. The singer, whose style is uninformed by the Early Music revolution of the last 30 years, is also decidedly hard to watch.
Two other reviewers of this DVD seem to have intended their comments to apply to other performances in the same series, perhaps of music by Poulenc. As usual, "classical" gets scant respect from amazon.com!

Wonderful performance piece.......2005-03-29

Not only does this piece contain a wonderful performance of Boccherini's Good Friday mass, it marks a vast improvement over some of the other DVDs in this series. The camera work here is stellar compared to some of the other static examples in other installments. The audio and the performances are vastly improved as well. Dragoni is clearly deserving of her acclaim.

Based on reviews I've read on other sites, I'm pleased that Amazon's reviewers are substantially better educated in this genre. No, this is NOT a music video, so if you are easily bored by a musical performance that lacks pyrotechnics and dancers, move along. But in terms of "documenting" a classic performance of sacred music, this is among the best.

Looking for An Hour or so of Absolute Peace in your Mind?.......2005-03-08

Then, this is the DVD for you.

Take heed of what the other review says, as its going to be quite an experience. In a way, this is as inspiring as Bach's music and as it is composed in modern time so the mediacy is stronger. And you just have to listen for yourself to see how good these Choirs from Cambridge are singing. Other than the sound, the sights are spectacular and the photography is excellent.

Beautiful.......2002-05-30

Poulenc's Stabat Mater, Litanies a la Vierge Noire, and Quatre Motets pour un Temps de Penitence are performed by beautifully prepared English choirs (plus the BBC Philharmonic in the Stabat Mater). The performances are first-rate; picture and sound quality are excellent. The disc includes an interesting documentary on Black Madonnas and a virtual visit to Rocamadour (where Poulenc underwent a religious experience relevant to the music on this program). Get this one.

Concert at Saint-Severin - Mozart Mass in C Major / Pergolesi Stabat Mater

Average customer rating:

A most enjoyable concert
Not so good, but...

Concert at Saint-Severin - Mozart Mass in C Major / Pergolesi Stabat Mater
Starring: Mozart , Pergolese , and Le Mounier
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
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ASIN: 6305394741
Release Date: 1999-06-08

Amazon.com

This disc is part of a series produced by Georges Bessonnet in which the regional orchestras of France are presented. These orchestras range from the very, very good (Picardy Sinfonietta) to the pretty good (Montpellier Philharmonic) to the group featured on this disc--the Versailles Soloists. This group needs some work. The violins tend to play just enough out of tune that you begin to feel little muscles (especially the one at the far end of your digestive tract) tightening up as you listen. They are joined by a chorus with some pitch problems of their own. If this sort of thing doesn't bother you, there are some good qualities to the disc. First of all, the music itself is excellent. It¹s especially nice to have an available performance of the Pergolesi Stabat Mater. The lower strings and the winds sound pretty good, and the ensemble is mostly OK. The video is a pristine transfer of a HDTV production so it looks great. --Seth Krimsky

Description

Giovanni Battista Pergolese's "Stabat Mater" and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "Mass in C Major K. 317 'Coronation Mass'" are performed by the Versailles Soloists and the Saint-Severin Choir, conducted by Bernard Le Monnier. Featured soloists are bass Antoine Garcin, tenor Daniel Galvez Vallejo, mezzo soprano Delphine Haidan, and soprano Sophie Fournier.

Customer Reviews:

A most enjoyable concert.......2002-08-15

The soloists have beautiful voices, the whole program is played with appropriate dynamics and enthusiasm. The sound is excellent and the filming is also good, giving viewers a sense of "being there".

Not so good, but..........2001-12-18

A interesting sacred programme: Pergolesi's Stabat Mater coupled with Mozart's Coronation Mass. The interpreters are four very good soloists (only the two ladies in Pergolesi); a regular orchestra (with some troubles, like violins out of tune); and an irregular choir, alternating bad and good moments (e.g.: bad in Kyrie, good in Gloria). Also, there's a notorious predominance of female voices.
Well, you can find reasons to buy this one: first of all, the music - although these two works deserves better interpretations, here we can listen some pleasant moments. Isn't a first class perfomance (like in Messiah's DVD with Cleobury, or The Creation's DVD with Schreier), but an accetable one. Other reasons are a good work from a young conductor, the quality of soloists, good sound and images (a beautiful church in Paris), and the director's work.
So, if we don't have a definitive version of this couple, let's enjoy this one (two curiousities: mistakes at subtitles informing the dates of the death of both composers, and there is interventions of woman's choir at some parts of Stabat).

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Stabat Mater

Average customer rating:

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Stabat Mater

Manufacturer: Brilliant Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000IGM7
Release Date: 2004-09-28

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