Issued for the Lenten season of 2022, Gustavo Gimeno and his Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg make their Harmonia Mundi debut with a recording of Rossini's Stabat Mater, joined by the lauded Wiener Singverein. The Stabat Mater was started by Rossini in 1831, but time restraints and health issues forced the composer to bring in Giovanni Tadolini to complete several of the movements, and the first version was premiered during the Holy Week of 1833. After issues of publication following the commissioner's death and questions concerning whether Rossini had help in writing the first version, this all-Rossini version was completed in 1841 and received its premiere the following year. It was initially met with a mix of acclaim (audiences at the Paris and Bologna premieres were quite enthusiastic) and skepticism, and even now, conversations continue about this remarkable work. The operatic quality of the writing for the vocal soloists, and indeed much for the orchestra as well, has been the center of the debate, and listening to movements like the aria "Cujas animam gementem," a bravura showpiece for tenor (executed well by René Barbera), or the duet "Quis est homo," one could certainly envision these on an operatic stage. Much of Rossini's music here, accompanying the seriousness of the medieval poem depicting Mary's suffering during Christ's death, is lighter than many of its forebearers, yet it is this divergence that makes it distinct. Not all of the music is in that vein, though, as soprano Maria Agresta and the Wiener Singverein excel together in the mighty "Inflammatus." Gimeno is in full command of the Luxembourg orchestra, and the excellent work of the Wiener Singverein makes one wish Rossini had given the chorus more to do.
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