Album

Domenico Scarlatti's Stabat Mater for 10 voices is a curious mix of throwback and one-of-a-kind creation entirely unlike anything else in his output. It has none of the proto-Classical language of his keyboard sonatas and seems to have been written as some kind of demonstration of the continuing relevance of the old polyphonic choral styles. And yet it is anything but a scholastic work. Scarlatti's mode of expression here is unlike any other work of its time. The specification of 10 voices leads you to expect a division into two choirs of five, but Scarlatti makes use of that configuration only as one of several possibilities available. The solemn text describing the weeping Mary is powerfully expressed, and it takes you awhile to realize that the composer hasn't been using the operatic melodies of his time: he is doing it almost entirely with texture, as the voices combine and recombine like shades of light filtering through the stained glass of a cathedral. It's a work that sounds old-fashioned but actually represents groundbreaking musical thought, and as such, it doesn't quite come together in this performance. Italian conductor Rinaldo Alessandrini is rightly regarded as one of the greatest interpreters of the music of Scarlatti's time, and he has earned that reputation through the forceful drama, the operatic quality he brings to sacred as well as secular music. But the drama in this work is of a different order, implicit rather than explicit. Alessandrini and his Concerto Italiano use one voice per part, which is certainly desirable for this dense texture, but the ensemble passage has the quality of a madrigal, and this seems wrong. Alessandrini's sensuous quality carries over to the rarely performed "Madrid Mass" for four voices that rounds out the disc. Here he doubles the voices, using two physically separated quartets singing in unison. The notes allude to unspecified evidence that this procedure was used at the time, and the almost stereo effect it creates is certainly compelling, as, indeed, is almost everything Alessandrini does. Here, however, one wonders whether he's standing in the way of music that was doing its best to be conventional and yet original. With several good recordings of the Stabat Mater now available, the prospective buyer should compare and contrast.

© James Manheim, All Music Guide

CD 1
Domenico Scarlatti Composer Stabat Mater, for two choirs, organ, and continuo Work 25:16 Rinaldo Alessandrini Conductor, Elena Cecchi Fedi Soprano, Rosa Dominguez Soprano, Andrea Perugi Organ, Andrea Damiani Archlute, Fabian Schofrin Alto, Tiziano Bagnati Tiorba, Roberto Abbondanza Bass, Elisa Franzetti Soprano, Sergio Foresti Bass, Elisabetta Tiso Soprano, Gianluca Ferrarini Tenor, Paolo Fanciullacci Tenor, Alessandro Carmignani Alto
1	1.Stabat Mater	4:16			$0.99
2	2.Cujus animam gementem	4:55			$0.99
3	3.Quis non posset	2:21			$0.99
4	4.Eja Mater, fons amoris	2:16			$0.99
5	5.Sancta Mater, istud agas	1:50			$0.99
6	6.Fac me vere tecum flere	0:50			$0.99
7	7.Juxta crucem	1:55			$0.99
8	8.Inflammatus	3:06			$0.99
9	9.Fac ut animae	2:15			$0.99
10	10.Amen	1:32			$0.99
Domenico Scarlatti Composer Missa quatuor vocum, for chorus in G- Work 29:25 Rinaldo Alessandrini Conductor, Elena Cecchi Fedi Soprano, Rosa Dominguez Soprano, Andrea Perugi Organ, Andrea Damiani Archlute, Fabian Schofrin Alto, Tiziano Bagnati Tiorba, Roberto Abbondanza Bass, Elisa Franzetti Soprano, Sergio Foresti Bass, Elisabetta Tiso Soprano, Gianluca Ferrarini Tenor, Paolo Fanciullacci Tenor, Alessandro Carmignani Alto
11	1.Kyrie	6:21			$0.99
12	2.Gloria	7:40			$1.49
13	3.Credo	8:39			$1.49
14	4.Sanctus	1:43			$0.99
15	5.Benedictus	1:43			$0.99
16	6.Agnus dei	3:19			$0.99