MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS
Sound Samples & Downloads

Giovanni Battista PERGOLESI (1710-1736)
Stabat Mater [37:27]
Laudate pueri Dominum, Psalm 112 [18:40]
Valer Barna-Sabadus/Terry Wey (counter-tenors)
Ensemble Barock Vokal, Mainz
Neumayer Consort/Michael Hofstetter
rec. March 2011, Roter Saal, Hochschule für Musik der Universität Mainz
OEHMS CLASSICS OC 831 [56:07]

Experience Classicsonline

Whether or not you think you will like this performance - note the word think - depends a good deal on your previous experiences with counter-tenor voices. More often than not performed with a pair of females or perhaps one soprano and a high male voice such as that with Helmut Muller-Brühl on the Naxos label (see review), Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater is his best known work. It is also beloved in relatively large-scale performances such as that of Claudio Abbado on Deutsche Grammophon 415 103 2. This Oehms Classics recording is an entirely different proposition to that particular example but is in line with recent thinking on the ideal baroque sound.
 
Michael Hofstetter’s intimate scale of sound and authentic approach is superficially comparable with a highly regarded recording with Rinaldo Alessandrini on the Naïve label, OP 30441 (see review). The Mainz acoustic is rather more generous with the present recording, and the overall musical picture has a touch more sparkle and life than that from Naïve though a touch less richness in the lower registers of the orchestra. If, unfamiliar with counter-tenor voices, you were to hear this recording ‘blind’ I suspect you might feel there was something different to what you were used to. That said, you certainly wouldn’t run screaming for the hills on a first impression. Both soloists have a remarkably pure sound and blend very well. Vibrato is used expressively but not hysterically, and the stratospheric heights demanded by the music are spine-tinglingly good. I wasn’t sure if I would like this beforehand, but I was sold almost immediately. There is a quality in the high male voice which seems to suit those trills in the Cujus animam perfectly. While we are not always sure who is taking which solo full credit goes to both soloists.
 
Hofstetter takes reasonably swift tempi, making for a good deal of drama and excitement in movements such as the Quae moerbat, which makes Muller-Brühl seem rather too genteel in comparison. This is a performance which avoids sogginess at all costs, but also creates a wonderful atmosphere and gives every moment of beauty its due in terms of weight and expression. The accompaniment is sparing and light without being hair-shirt, though fans of a more sumptuous sound may find themselves wishing for a little more depth in the string colours. My personal feeling is that the proportions, set against the sometimes choirboy purity of the voices, is near ideal.
 
The Laudate pueri Dominum is entirely another experience, with extra winds kicking up the dust and a fine choir adding to a much greater physical mass of sound. This more ‘in your face’ music is good fun, with bouncy ostinati and extra plucked strings adding to the rhythmic drive. There could hardly be a greater contrast with the solemn Stabat Mater, so any depressions you may have been nursing from the first half of the programme are blown away entirely by the end of the second. There is a gorgeous central Quis sicut Dominus with a superbly nuanced choral sound, and the penultimate Gloria Patri is another stunning performance. The memory left is one of remarkable virtuosity, musical agility and skill which you will want to enjoy again and again. This release is a highly rewarding pairing of disparate repertoire with unusual solo timbres, and I think it’s great.
 
Dominy Clements
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Error processing SSI file