![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
5/5. The thing I love about Spotify is that if I want to listen to five different recordings of something, it will let me do that. So recently I overdosed on Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, which last week I had only vaguely heard of but now I have practically memorized. Um. Lots of good recording of this piece. But this one, the first one I listened to, imprinted me and is by far my favorite.
I have a giant love this big for countertenors , and I already very much liked David Daniels, who is a consummate musician -- Daniels was why I checked this recording out to begin with -- the "O Clemens," where Daniels so perfectly matches the timbre and line of the violins that sometimes you aren't sure which is which, would have sold me on it to begin with -- but he and Roschmann together with the extremely-small (two violins, viola, basso continuo) instrumentalist group (the way it's done here, it's much less like the instrumentalists are accompanying the singers, and more like all the musicians are performing a chamber music work, instrumentalists-singers all partners, all moving together like one entity though in different lines, and I cannot tell you how gorgeous I think that is -- early imprinting from instrumentalist background and college choir, yes) -- anyway, flailing long sentence aside, Daniels and Roschmann and the instrumentalists all taken together make me want to either cry or call up all the people I know who would be willing to sing duets with me. Or maybe both. The solos are okay (it's only Daniels' "O Clemens" that makes me shiver and drop whatever I'm holding, the rest are just nice), but it's the duets that just knock the breath out of me.
It's a highly idiosyncratic recording, mind you, and so although I love it like whoa, I'm not even sure I recommend it unless you share my extreme bias towards small-group music. It's the only recording I know of this piece that is so very reminiscent of chamber music, and I can imagine it coming across as too theatrical, although personally I love the theatrical element as well. Also, I have no desire to listen to Roschmann in any other setting, as her voice is a bit on the warbly side, but it goes very well with Daniels' voice and with the timbre of the instruments.
For a less idiosyncractic introduction to this piece, I also highly recommend two other recordings. The Rousset/Les Talens Lyriques with Barbara Bonney and Andreas Scholl sounds like it's using a larger string orchestra, and is a quite beautiful conventional interpretation (and, in a vacuum, I would much prefer the pureness of Bonney's and Scholl's voices to Roschmann and Daniels). Even more, I recommend the Il Seminario musicale recording with Veronique Gens and Gerard Lesne, which sometimes I actually like better than the Roschmann/Daniels, depending on what mood I'm in. It uses (I think) a small string orchestra. Gens and Lesne are totally gorgeous together; like Bonney and Scholl, their voices are quite a bit purer than Roschmann and Daniels (although I love Scholl's voice, I think I prefer the blend of Gens/Lesne); and the interpretation is much more calm and contemplative.
However, I really, really like the scaled-down instrumental group in the Roschmann/Daniels; using an orchestra, even a small one as in Gens/Lesne, gives me a distinct vibe of "instrumentalists accompanying singers" rather than the "singers and instrumentalists as partners" vibe that I love so about the Roschmann/Daniels.
(I have also heard good things about the Michael Chance/Gillian Fisher recording (and I do adore Michael Chance, who sings one of my favorite tracks in the entire world, the "Agnus Dei" on the Gardiner recording of the Bach B Minor, which have I mentioned is quite possibly my favorite piece ever?) and the Alessandrini recording, neither of which Spotify carries. Both of these, I think, are also string-orchestral.)
ETA 11/9/11: Spotify got the Alessandrini recording, which is indeed quite wonderful and has replaced Biondi as my go-to favorite (although I still have a sweet spot for the Biondi). Review here.
I have a giant love this big for countertenors , and I already very much liked David Daniels, who is a consummate musician -- Daniels was why I checked this recording out to begin with -- the "O Clemens," where Daniels so perfectly matches the timbre and line of the violins that sometimes you aren't sure which is which, would have sold me on it to begin with -- but he and Roschmann together with the extremely-small (two violins, viola, basso continuo) instrumentalist group (the way it's done here, it's much less like the instrumentalists are accompanying the singers, and more like all the musicians are performing a chamber music work, instrumentalists-singers all partners, all moving together like one entity though in different lines, and I cannot tell you how gorgeous I think that is -- early imprinting from instrumentalist background and college choir, yes) -- anyway, flailing long sentence aside, Daniels and Roschmann and the instrumentalists all taken together make me want to either cry or call up all the people I know who would be willing to sing duets with me. Or maybe both. The solos are okay (it's only Daniels' "O Clemens" that makes me shiver and drop whatever I'm holding, the rest are just nice), but it's the duets that just knock the breath out of me.
It's a highly idiosyncratic recording, mind you, and so although I love it like whoa, I'm not even sure I recommend it unless you share my extreme bias towards small-group music. It's the only recording I know of this piece that is so very reminiscent of chamber music, and I can imagine it coming across as too theatrical, although personally I love the theatrical element as well. Also, I have no desire to listen to Roschmann in any other setting, as her voice is a bit on the warbly side, but it goes very well with Daniels' voice and with the timbre of the instruments.
For a less idiosyncractic introduction to this piece, I also highly recommend two other recordings. The Rousset/Les Talens Lyriques with Barbara Bonney and Andreas Scholl sounds like it's using a larger string orchestra, and is a quite beautiful conventional interpretation (and, in a vacuum, I would much prefer the pureness of Bonney's and Scholl's voices to Roschmann and Daniels). Even more, I recommend the Il Seminario musicale recording with Veronique Gens and Gerard Lesne, which sometimes I actually like better than the Roschmann/Daniels, depending on what mood I'm in. It uses (I think) a small string orchestra. Gens and Lesne are totally gorgeous together; like Bonney and Scholl, their voices are quite a bit purer than Roschmann and Daniels (although I love Scholl's voice, I think I prefer the blend of Gens/Lesne); and the interpretation is much more calm and contemplative.
However, I really, really like the scaled-down instrumental group in the Roschmann/Daniels; using an orchestra, even a small one as in Gens/Lesne, gives me a distinct vibe of "instrumentalists accompanying singers" rather than the "singers and instrumentalists as partners" vibe that I love so about the Roschmann/Daniels.
(I have also heard good things about the Michael Chance/Gillian Fisher recording (and I do adore Michael Chance, who sings one of my favorite tracks in the entire world, the "Agnus Dei" on the Gardiner recording of the Bach B Minor, which have I mentioned is quite possibly my favorite piece ever?) and the Alessandrini recording, neither of which Spotify carries. Both of these, I think, are also string-orchestral.)
ETA 11/9/11: Spotify got the Alessandrini recording, which is indeed quite wonderful and has replaced Biondi as my go-to favorite (although I still have a sweet spot for the Biondi). Review here.
