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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Verdi: Requiem & Quattro Pezzi Sacri
| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Verdi: Requiem & Four Sacred Pieces
Hailing the ‘burning conviction’ of this recording, Gramophone awarded Riccardo Muti ‘the victor's palm’ for his incandescent interpretation of Verdi’s apocalyptic, yet deeply compassionate setting of the Requiem Mass. Renata Scotto, one of the great Verdi sopranos of her time, leads a powerful quartet of soloists, while the Philharmonia Orchestra and Ambrosian Chorus rise to every challenge of a score that brings the heightened drama of the opera house to a solemn liturgical text. | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Verdi: Requiemand Quattro Pezzi Sacri
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| |  | Verdi: Requiem and Quattro Pezzi Sacri
“Reiner's opening of the Requiem is very slow and atmospheric...Yet as the work proceeds the performance soon sparks into life, and there is some superb and memorable singing from a distinguished team of soloists. THe recording has a spectacularly wide dynamic range” Penguin Guide, 2010 **/* | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Verdi: Requiem & Quattro Pezzi Sacri
“Gardiner's Verdi Requiem is in a class of its own.
His are readings that combine a positive view and interpretative integrity from start to finish, something possible only in the context of the superb professionalism of the (augmented) Monteverdi Choir, which sings with a burnished and steady tone throughout and suggests, rightly, a corporate act of worship. Its contribution is beyond praise.
He might also have been surprised and delighted to ear the soloists' contribution sung with such precision by such a finely integrated quartet, who perform the important unaccompanied passages with special grace and sensitivity.
Instead of the usual jostle of vibratos, here the four voices are firm and true. Individually they're also distinguished. Pride of place must go to Orgonášová who gives the performance of her life. The exactly placed high B in the 'Quid sum miser' section of the 'Dies irae', the perfect blending with von Otter at 'Dominum', the whole of the Andante section of the 'Libera me', sung with ethereal tone and a long breath, make the heart stop in amazement.
In 'Oro supplex' Gardiner follows Verdi's tempo marking. More often he follows tradition, with slower speeds than those suggested, and he allows more licence than the score, or conductors like Toscanini. But as his liberties all seem so convincing in the context of the whole, who should complain? In the Pezzi sacri, Gardiner gives the most thrilling account yet to appear.
The recording, made in Westminster Cathedral, has a huge range which may cause problems in confined spaces. You're liable to be overwhelmed, for instance, by the 'Dies irae'.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 “Gardiner, using period forces, is searingly dramatic and superbly recorded, with fine detail, combining transparent textures, weight and atmospheric bloom...The soloists make a characterful quartet, with the vibrant Orgonasova set against the rock-steady Von Otter” Penguin Guide, 2010 **** | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Verdi: Requiem & Four Sacred Pieces
| | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Verdi: Four Sacred Pieces & Hymn of the Nations
This is a recording of rarely heard choral works by Verdi, performed by all-Italian forces – the Orchestra and Chorus of Teatre Regio in Turin, with the soloists Barbara Frittoli and Francesco Meli, under the conductor Gianandrea Noseda, an exclusive Chandos artist – for totally idiomatic results. The opera La forza del destino was first performed in the Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre of St Petersburg in 1862. Featured on this recording is ‘La vergine degli angeli’, the chorus that ends Act III. Here Leonora (whom everyone supposes to be a man) is sent by the Monastery of Hornachuelos to live in a hermit’s cave for the rest of her life. The monks invoke the Virgin to protect the new hermit and send Leonora off with one of Verdi’s most beautiful choruses (which also features an exquisite solo for Leonora). Soon after completing La forza del destino, Verdi was asked to prepare an Italian entry for the London International Exhibition. He agreed, and the result was the Inno delle nazioni, to words by Arrigo Boito. The piece ultimately did not figure in the official celebrations, but was performed to great acclaim in London in 1862. The work includes an orchestral introduction and a chorus, an impassioned recitation by the soloist, and a beautiful melody for soloist, then chorus. Verdi cites the national anthems of England, France, and Italy, before combining them in a contrapuntal tour de force. With the death in 1868 of Gioachino Rossini, Verdi took it upon himself to commission all the most important composers of Italy to prepare a composite Mass in his memory. The mass was to be performed on the first anniversary of Rossini’s death, but when the city of Bologna proved unable to arrange the performance in time, the project was abandoned. Verdi, however, persevered and did complete the intended final movement, ‘Libera me, Domine’, recorded here. He would rework the movement for his later Messa da Requiem. Completing the disc are the Quattro pezzi sacri (Four Sacred Pieces): Ave Maria, Laudi alla Vergine Maria, Stabat Mater, and Te Deum. The two choruses with full orchestra, the Stabat Mater and Te Deum, Verdi’s last compositions, are based on well-known poems. The first, celebrating Mary as she stands by the Cross, was set by many composers. For the Te Deum, written for double chorus, Verdi turned to a text often, though not here, used to celebrate victories and coronations. It quickly became common practice to perform the four pieces together, with a chorus singing the unaccompanied, but moving, Ave Maria and Laudi alla Vergine Maria, originally composed for solo voices. “The Hymn of the Nations was the Italian musical contribution to the London International Exhibition of 1862...Under Gianandrea Noseda's alert baton, it registers well here...[Barbara Frittoli] provides an ethereal close to the Te Deum, last of the Four Sacred Pieces - visionary, distilled examples of Verdi's late style whose mystery Noseda presents with considerable sensitivity.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 **** “the Teatro Regio forces (under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda) deliver them with a bold sense of drama. The soloists are top-drawer Verdians too: tenor Francesco Meli has an impressively ringing top register, and Barbara Frittoli bring weight, richness and sensitive phrasing to the soprano solos.” Classic FM Magazine, May 2011 **** “it comes as a shock (albeit a pleasantly fascinating one) to hear Verdi's rather disjointed initial thoughts for the piece...though [his] contrapuntal acrobatics in the "Libera me" fugue continue to delight and amaze, and his orchestration fizzes with its characterful vigour and colourfulness...this performance lacks nothing in terms of forward momentum or choral declamation.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2011 “It is temperament rather than smoothness in her singing that Frittoli brings, and it is interesting to hear the differences between this version and Verdi's later one...Gianandrea Noseda and Turin Opera's chorus master Robert Gabbiani do well to bring out the contrasts from their respective charges.” International Record Review, April 2011 “Francesco Meli and Barbara Frittoli, with her wide and warm vibrato, give performances of great energy and directness. Look out for a fascinating filler, Inno delle nazioni, which is a strangely wonderful “mash-up” of English, French and Italian national anthems.” The Telegraph, 8th April 2011 **** | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Berliner Philharmoniker: European Concert 1998Live Recording from The Vasa Museum Stockholm, 1998
Stockholm‘s Vasa Museum harbours an extraordinary historical attraction: a large, fully intact sailing ship from the 17th Century, the “Vasa”. The ship was laid down in 1626. It took some 400 shipyard workers no more than two years to turn a thousand felled oak trees into a proud ship ready for her maiden voyage. Yet before she had even sailed out of port, the “Vasa” capsized and sank. All initial attempts to salvage the wreck remained fruitless, with only fi fty-three of the sixty-four bronze canons being recovered. It was to be another three hundred years before the “Vasa” was found in 1953, buried at a depth of 32 metres. It was decided the wreck should be salvaged. Years of work ensued to drill tunnels beneath the keel of the ship, steel cables were then strung through the tunnels and the completely undamaged ship was lifted to the light of day. Once exposed to the atmosphere, the ship had to be spraytreated to ensure its future preservation. Nowadays, the huge exhibition hall of the Vasa Museum is home to the ancient ship, which measures 69 metres in length, almost 12 metres in width and weighs 1,210 tonnes. At a keel-to-mast height of some 52 metres, the Vasa‘s masts are forced to protrude from the museum‘s roof. These unusual surroundings formed the venue for the Berliner Philharmoniker‘s 1998 European Concert in Sweden, which was conducted by Claudio Abbado. Sound Format: PCM STEREO, DD 5.1 Picture Format: 16:9 DVD Format: DVD 9, PAL Running Time: 100 mins | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Verdi: Messa da Requiem & Quattro Pezzi sacri
Franco de Grandis (bass), Stefania Toczyska (mezzo-soprano), Olga Romanko (soprano), Vicente Ombuena (tenor) Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Bulgarian National Svetoslav Obretenov Choir, Bulgarian National Choir, Emil Tabakov | |
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