Heltay: Rossini – Petite Messe Solennelle (2 CD, APE)

Composer: Gioachino Rossini, Ottorino Respighi
Performer: Margaret Marshall, Alfreda Hodgson, Robert Tear, Malcolm King, Jill Gomez, Meriel Dickinson, London Chamber Choir
Orchestra: Argo Chamber Orchestra
Conductor: Laszlo Heltay
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 2 CD
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: Decca
Size: 557 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

CD 01
01. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Kyrie – Kyrie – Christe – Kyrie
02. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Gloria – Gloria – Laudamus te
03. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Gloria – Gratias
04. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Gloria – Domine Deus
05. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Gloria – Qui tollis
06. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Gloria – Quoniam
07. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Gloria – Cum Sancto Spiritu
08. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Credo – Credo
09. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Credo – Crucifixus
10. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Credo – Et resurrexit
11. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Prélude religieux – (pendant l’Offertoire)
12. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle / Sanctus – Sanctus

CD 02
01. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle – O salutaris
02. Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle – Agnus Dei

03. Respighi: Deità Silvane – 1. I Fauni
04. Respighi: Deità Silvane – 2. Egle
05. Respighi: Deità Silvane – 3. Musica in Horto
06. Respighi: Deità Silvane – 4. Acqua
07. Respighi: Deità Silvane – 5. Crepuscolo

08. Respighi: Trittico Botticelliano: 1. La Primavera
09. Respighi: Trittico Botticelliano – 2. L’Adorazione dei Magi
10. Respighi: Trittico Botticelliano – 3. La Nascata di Venere

11. Respighi: Lauda per la natività del signore – 1. Pastor, voie che vegghiate
12. Respighi: Lauda per la natività del signore – 2. Segnor, tu sei desceso
13. Respighi: Lauda per la natività del signore – 3. O car dolce mio figlio
14. Respighi: Lauda per la natività del signore – 4. Segnor, puoie ch’hai degnato
15. Respighi: Lauda per la natività del signore – 5. Voglio ve consolare

An excellent recording of Rossini’s Mass

You will be most pleased with the clarity and balance of this CD. I have purchased recordings of choirs where the organ blows away the choir, where the choir is recorded in their home cathedral so you hear echos for five seconds and all the words jumble together, and where you’d give an arm and a leg for the text of the songs just so you could understand with the heck the choir was singing. NOT SO HERE!!
This CD is exactly what I’d hoped it would be – a recording that I could understand without having to rely on text. The harmonium provides an excellent backdrop to the choir, as all instruments should, so you don’t have to struggle to hear the choir over the music. The tempo of the piece is very close to what our choir sang, making this a CD I will enjoy with good memories for many years.
As for the other pieces on this CD, I don’t listen to them. The quality is just as high for these as for Rossini’s MASS, but they’re not my style.