PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE - Original Version for 12 Soloists (Passy,1863)

PETITE MESSE SOLENNELLE  (CVLD297)

Original Version for 12 Soloists (Passy,1863)

Available in: HD File, CD

GLORIA 30:59

#2 Gloria in excelsis Deo  0.47

#3 Et in terra pax hominibus (solos: Tang, Marcuzzi, Statsyuk, Toso)  1:47

#4 Gratias agimus tibi (solos: Li, Rossetto, Wang)  4:13

#5 Domine Deus (solo: Biscontin)  5:14

#6 Qui tollis (solos: Tang, Li)  6:02

#7 Quoniam (solo: Ingrasciotta)  7:16

#8 Cum Sancto Spiritu  5:40

CREDO 16:54

#9 Credo in unum Deum (solos: Tang, Marcuzzi, Statsyuk, Toso)  4:14

10 Crucifixus (solo: Corò)  3:15

11 Et resurrexit  (solos: Tang, Marcuzzi, Statsyuk, Toso)  4:42

12 Et vitam venturi  4:13

OFFERTORIUM

13 Prélude religieux  7:43

SANCTUS 9:31

14 Sanctus (solos: Tang, Marcuzzi, Statsyuk, Toso)  4:04

15 O salutaris hostia (solo: Cimolin)  5:27

AGNUS DEI

16 Agnus Dei (solo: Girardello)  8:10

     Total Time: 79:20

Arianna Cimolin, Valentina Corò, Miao Tang sopranos / Valeria Girardello, Huijao Li, Ludovica Marcuzzi altos

Andrea Biscontin, Diego Rossetto, Nikolaj Statsyuk tenors / Paolo Ingrasciotta, Francesco Toso, Chenlong Wang basses

Alberto Boischio pianoforte I / Manuel Ghidini pianoforte II /Carlo Emilio Tortarolo harmonium

Giovanni Battista Rigon, conductor

Production: VELUT LUNA

Executive Producer: Marco Lincetto

Musical Producer: Michele Sartor

Recording, Mix & mastering: Marco Lincetto

Editing: Mattia Zanatta

Cover Photo: Marco Lincetto / Etienne Carjat

Inside Photos: Luigi De Frenza

Layout & Design: L'Image

"Twelve singers of three sexes, men, women and castrati, will be sufficient for its execution. (...) A total of twelve cherubs." This is what the seventy-one-year-old Rossini prescribes in the score of the Petite messe solennelle composed in Paris in 1863, more than thirty years after his enigmatic retirement from the operatic scene. The ensemble is completed by the accompaniment of two pianos and a harmonium: Rossini in fact envisioned a performance among a small number of close acquaintances, in the private chapel of the Pillet-Will family, to whom the mass was dedicated.

It is precisely the "chamber" dimension of this masterpiece that we have tried to recover in this performance, recorded live at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza with an ensemble of young singers from the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, true talents, some of whom are already featured in the programming of important theatres. This is in all probability the first Italian performance of the original version, certainly the very first in which all members of the ensemble take turns in the solo roles.

The Latin text of the Catholic mass is sometimes intoned by the entire ensemble (in the initial Kyrie, or in the two great fugues of the Cum Sancto Spiritu and the Et vitam), sometimes with antiphonal interventions by a quartet of soloists (Gloria and Sanctus), or entrusted to highly effective solo moments (the tenor's Domine Deus, the bass's Quoniam, the soprano's Crucifixus and Salutaris hostia), or expressed in two- or three-part concerted numbers (Qui tollis, Gratias agimus tibi). There is also a purely instrumental interlude at the Offertory (Prélude religieux on the first piano), but perhaps the most moving moment of the entire mass Rossini reserves for the beloved voice of the alto, who intones in antiphon with the choir the poignant concluding Agnus Dei.

In 1867, a few years after the date of composition, Rossini took care to orchestrate the accompaniment of his small mass (perhaps fearing that others might do so), and it is often performed in this version, just as the choral parts are often entrusted to large ensembles where Rossini's "cherubs" change from twelve to several tens. The music certainly gains in monumentality, but it loses the freshness, grace, transparency, and all the self-deprecating understatement that also transpires in the autograph comments accompanying the score: "Twelve are also the apostles in Leonardo's famous fresco called The Last Supper, and – who would believe it – among your disciples there are some who sing false notes! Lord, rest assured, I promise that there will be no Judases at my supper and that mine will sing your praises correctly and with love, and this small composition which is, alas, the last sin of my old age."