Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Muller-Bruhl - Stabat Mater/Salve Regina In C Minor

Published Saturday 17th June 2006
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Muller-Bruhl - Stabat Mater/Salve Regina In C Minor
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Cologne Chamber Orchestra, Helmut Muller-Bruhl - Stabat Mater/Salve Regina In C Minor

STYLE: Classical
RATING 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 18703-
LABEL: Naxos 8557447
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

This excellent CD gives us much to think about. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was 26 when he came to write these pieces and he knew he was dying. Did this knowledge lift him to heights that he could not reach had he lived longer? Or is this a tantalising glimpse of what might have been? We cannot know so all we can do is wonder at this talent and appreciate the achingly beautiful music. The featured singer on both pieces is the German soprano Jörg Waschinski. He is blessed with a remarkable voice that allows him to sing in the vocal range for which Pergolesi wrote, that of the castrato. This allows the CD to have a much greater authenticity by not needing to use a female soprano or a boy treble and the uncluttered orchestral arrangement allows the vocal lines to flow. Also on the 'Stabat Mater' is the countertenor Michael Chance who is a graduate of King's College, Cambridge. The two singers combine to give us music of great tenderness and sombre beauty. The 'Salve Regina In C Minor' is just as expressive and shows some of the operatic touches that had made Pergolesi famous.

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