Edward Higginbottom - Pergolesi: Marian Vespers (2003)
Artist: Edward Higginbottom
Title: Pergolesi: Marian Vespers
Year Of Release: 2003
Label: Erato / Warner Classics
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (image + .cue, log, scans)
Total Time: 1:57:24
Total Size: 548 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:Title: Pergolesi: Marian Vespers
Year Of Release: 2003
Label: Erato / Warner Classics
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC (image + .cue, log, scans)
Total Time: 1:57:24
Total Size: 548 MB
WebSite: Album Preview
Disc: 1
1. Domine ad adjuvandum : Domine ad adjuvandum
2. Domine ad adjuvandum : Gloria
3. Domine ad adjuvandum : Sicut erat
4. Domine ad adjuvandum : Alleluja
5. Dixit Dominus : Dixit Dominus
6. Dixit Dominus : Virgam virtutis
7. Dixit Dominus : Dominare
8. Dixit Dominus : Tecum principium
9. Dixit Dominus : Juravit Domine
10. Dixit Dominus : Dominus a dextris tuis
11. Dixit Dominus : Gloria
12. Dixit Dominus : Sicut erat in principio
13. Sonata di Violino e Basso : Largo
14. Sonata di Violino e Basso : Allegro
15. Confitebor : Confitebor
16. Confitebor : Confessio
17. Confitebor : Fidelia
18. Confitebor : Redemptionem
19. Confitebor : Sanctum et terribile
20. Confitebor : Gloria
21. Confitebor : Sicut Erat
22. Sonata di Violino e Basso : Largo
23. Sonata di Violino e Basso : Spiritoso
24. Laudate Pueri : Laudate Pueri
25. Laudate Pueri : A solis irtu
26. Laudate Pueri : Excelsus super omnes
27. "Laudate Pueri : Quis, quis sicut Dominus"
28. Laudate Pueri : Suscitans a terra
29. Laudate Pueri : Gloria
30. Laudate Pueri : Sicut erat in principio
Disc: 2
1. Lucis Creator optime
2. Sonata : Comodo
3. Sonata : Allegro
4. Magnificat : Magnificat
5. Magnificat : Qui a fecit mihi
6. Magnificat : Suscepit Israel
7. Magnificat : Gloria
8. Sonata : Adagio
9. Sonata : Presto
10. Salve Regina : Salve Regina
11. Salve Regina : Ad te clamamus
12. Salve Regina : Ad te suspiramus
13. Salve Regina : Eia ergo
14. Salve Regina : Et Jesum
15. "Salve Regina : O Clemens, o pia"
16. Ora pro nobis : Ut digni effciamur promissionibus Christ.......
17. Amen
18. Sonata : Allegro
Performers:
Sophie Daneman
Noemi Kiss
Choir of New College, Oxford
Academy of Ancient Music
Edward Higginbottom
This Erato release attempts to introduce the listener to various aspects, some perhaps neglected, of Pergolesi's work. Such an attempt would be quite laudable, Pergolesi mainly being known for his Stabat Mater and the brilliant intermezzo La serva padrona, were not Pergolesi: Marian Vespers, a random sequence of disparate vocal and instrumental works, simply don't add up to Vespers. And the performers; soloists; the New College Choir, Oxford; and the Academy of Ancient Music, under the direction of Edward Higginbottom, seem unsettled by their task, often lapsing into a type of well-polished monotony. It should be pointed out that the service of Vespers, the seventh of the eight daily services of the Divine Office, follows a distinct pattern (which this set does not observe) and includes psalms, antiphons, settings of biblical and other liturgical texts, as well as a setting of the Magnificat, the canticle of the Virgin ("My soul doth magnify the Lord"). Only the second disc contains Marian music, a passionate Magnificat and a luminous, soulful Salve Regina, these two gems unfortunately separated by a rather mediocre Sonata for cello and continuo. Rooted in the Baroque, Pergolesi (1710-1736) is among those rare composers who intuitively -- almost clairvoyantly -- grasped and expressed the new style, which would crystallize into classicism later in the century. Consequently, Pergolesi's music, particularly his sacred works, reveals a multifaceted genius reaching for a truly comprehensive musical idiom. Despite his genuine modernity, Pergolesi, as exemplified by his Salve Regina, embodies a quintessentially Baroque spirituality that introduced elements of ecstatic passion and mystical vastness into Marian devotion. The music, which can only be described as intimately sublime, truly inspires the two sopranos Sophie Daneman and Noemi Kiss, whose voices attain the expressive purity of authentic devotion. -- Zoran Minderovic