Puccini - Messa di Gloria / Carreras · Prey · LPO

表演者: Giacomo Puccini / Claudio Scimone / José Carreras / Hermann Prey / London Philharmonia Orchestra / Ambrosian Singers
介质: Audio CD
发行时间: 1994-09-06
出版者: Erato
唱片数: 1
条形码: 0745099636722

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　　Puccini Messa di Gloria. José Carreras (ten) Hermann Prey (bar) Philharmonia Orchestra; Ambrosian Singers / Claudio Scimone
　　An earlier version of this celebratory mass, completed when Puccini was still only 21, was also on the Erato label, a well-paced, generally well- sung reading, marred only by the excessively reverberant and variably balanced recording (STU70890, ... (展开全部) 　　Puccini Messa di Gloria. José Carreras (ten) Hermann Prey (bar) Philharmonia Orchestra; Ambrosian Singers / Claudio Scimone
　　An earlier version of this celebratory mass, completed when Puccini was still only 21, was also on the Erato label, a well-paced, generally well- sung reading, marred only by the excessively reverberant and variably balanced recording (STU70890, 2/75-nla). When I started listening to this new version, recorded in London at the Church of All Saints, Tooting Graveney in London (a regular recording venue), I was at first apprehensive that again the choir would sound too distant and too washy. Happily the recording of the "Kyrie" is misleading, and the first big advantage of the new version is, as you would expect, that the digital recording reveals far more detail, has extra brightness and generally conveys the feeling of more air round the sound. The second and equally obvious advantage is that the singing of the tenor soloist, José Carreras, is sweeter-toned and more positively imaginative than that of his predecessor, good as he was. The solo in "Gratias" becomes a radiant aria, made the more persuasive by Schimone's slightly faster speed, light and flowing. It is typical of Scimone's approach as against that of Michel Corboz on the previous Erato version or of Eliahu Inbal on his enjoyable Cologne/Frankfurt version (Philips 9500 009, 2/77-nla) that he tends to choose slightly faster speeds, preferring lighter clearer textures, presumably to avoid any hint of sentimentality.
　　
　　What has struck me afresh, hearing this new version, is how accomplished the piece is for a 21-year-old. As Mosco Carner points out in his great study of Puccini (Duckworth: 1958), Puccini's harmonic scheme is often more advanced than that of Verdi in his then recent Requiem. Puccini's teacher commended the piece, but found it "too theatrical", which is fair enough, for the young composer in his enthusiasm for dramatic expression often fitted inappropriate music to particular liturgical words. The swaggering main theme of the "Gloria", a bold and brassy march, may sound very secular indeed, and the gently lilting setting of the "Agnus Dei" found a far after place as a madrigal in the levee scene of Act 2 of Manon Lescaut, but they are both typical of the sharp memorability and originality of the young composer. The "Gloria" in particular is an exuberant piece, and might well find a place in choral concerts on its own. As it is, the "Agnus" makes a light-weight unsatisfactory conclusion after the big and colourful settings of the "Credo" as well as of the "Gloria".
　　
　　In this new performance the Ambrosian Singers cope well with Scimone's fast speeds-the great fugue at the end of the "Gloria" is most exciting-and the Philharmonia is in excellent form. I am not so sure that Hermann Prey brings an improvement over his Erato predecessor, the sweet-toned Philippe Huttenlocher. As ever Prey sings sensitively, but the sound is more grainy and it is disappointing that he was not dissuaded from singing "kvi" in the German manner for "qui" in the "Benedictus". As in the Philips version but not the previous Erato, the full choral basses sing the yearning melody of "Crucifixus" instead of the baritone soloist on his own. Huttenlocher made it more affecting than any choir could. But it is good to welcome a fine new account of a vital and still neglected choral work.
　　
　　The CD version, which arrived simultaneously with the LP, is almost identical in quality except that the CD focuses the bass line more sharply. It also helps to aerate the often thick texture, with trumpets for example, more brightly defined.
　　
　　1984 Gramophone Magazine.