# Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle



## Guest

This is a splendid work and I especially love the opening Kyrie with its harmonium and piano accompaniment Rossini's work is also a look back to Renaissance polyphony, but with 19th century harmonic accompaniment. A hybrid/eclectic work: at times we have pure Rossini in the solo parts.


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## Rogerx

I think I prefer this one most :


Marielle Labèque (piano), Nicolai Gedda (tenor), Lucia Popp (soprano), David Briggs (harmonium), Dimitri Kavrakos (double bass), Katia Labèque (piano), Nicolai Gedda (mezzo-soprano), Brigitte Fassbaender (mezzo-soprano)
Choir of King's College Cambridge/ Stephen Cleobury

Very closely followed by :

Katia Ricciarelli (soprano), Margarita Zimmermann (mezzo-soprano), Jose Carreras (tenor), Samuel Ramey (bass), Craig Sheppard (harmonium)

Philharmonia Orchestra, Ambrosian Singers, Claudio Scimone

Bargain price these days


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## Guest

Thank you for those excellent tips!!


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## philoctetes

I'm a fan... discovered it through excerpts in Lucia Popp's Icon box... that one is Cleobury which I've never heard completely... I guess I should huh... I usually listen to Corboz or Spering, the latter reissued with Stabat Mater


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## SanAntone

Christabel said:


> This is a splendid work and I especially love the opening Kyrie with its harmonium and piano accompaniment Rossini's work is also a look back to Renaissance polyphony, but with 19th century harmonic accompaniment. A hybrid/eclectic work: at times we have pure Rossini in the solo parts.


This is the original version, Rossini scored it for twelve singers, four of them soloists, two pianos and harmonium, which I prefer.

"Rossini later produced an orchestral version, including an additional movement, a setting of the hymn "O salutaris hostia" as a soprano aria. This version of the mass was not performed during his lifetime because he could not obtain permission to perform it with female singers in a church. It was first performed three months after his death, at the Salle Ventadour in Paris by the company of the Théâtre-Italien on 24 February 1869. " (Wikipedia)

He referred to it as a "sin of his old age", written as it was after he had retired and ceased composing, but I think of it as a masterpiece by a great composer.


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## Guest

SanAntone said:


> This is the original version, Rossini scored it for twelve singers, four of them soloists, two pianos and harmonium, which I prefer.
> 
> "Rossini later produced an orchestral version, including an additional movement, a setting of the hymn "O salutaris hostia" as a soprano aria. This version of the mass was not performed during his lifetime because he could not obtain permission to perform it with female singers in a church. It was first performed three months after his death, at the Salle Ventadour in Paris by the company of the Théâtre-Italien on 24 February 1869. " (Wikipedia)
> 
> He referred to it as a "sin of his old age", written as it was after he had retired and ceased composing, but I think of it as a masterpiece by a great composer.


Having heard both orchestral and keyboard versions I definitely prefer the latter. I agree with you about its stature and infinitely prefer it to those (spoiler alert) silly operas of Rossini's.


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## Dick Johnson

*Rossini Religious Works*

I love the Petite Messe Solonelle but prefer the later version for orchestra. The original has charm but the simple setting has always sounded odd to me for a religious work. Admittedly, the orchestrated version seems like a larger work - leading to the joke that it is neither "petite" or "solonelle". I listen to the Antonio Pappano recording the most.

As a huge fan of both Bel Canto opera and religious music, the Stabat Mater by Rossini is simply divine. It has been criticized for being "too operatic" but it was written by Rossini as a true religious work with some glorious music (that just happens to be operatic). I've never understood the criticism that Rossini is too bel canto - that was his idiom and he applied it well to religious music.


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## Enthusiast

It's a work I love (the original version) and dislike (the orchestral version). There are now many versions to consider and two recent versions that do not call on big name soloists are:

















I enjoy both but do feel that a little more sense of fun would have been good.


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## Allegro Con Brio

Listening for the first time now. Lovely! It’s uncomplicated but beautiful. Exactly the kind of choral work that I would love to see performed in a large cathedral.


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## Reichstag aus LICHT

I can thoroughly recommend Marcus Creed and the RIAS Kammerchor on Harmonia Mundi... or perhaps that should be "Harmonium" Mundi in this case 









NB: I bought this as a download from a couple of sources, but had them refunded due to some "peakiness" in louder passages. I bought the CD in the end, and it's wonderful; nicely packaged, too.


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## Azol

A very fine performance available on DVD.

*Riccardo Chailly *conductor

Alexandrina Pendatchanska soprano 
Manuela Custer mezzo-soprano 
Stefano Secco tenor 
Mirco Palazzi bass

Gewandhaus Chor 
Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig 
Chor der Oper Leipzig

Recorded at Gewandhaus of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany in 2010


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