Giovanni Battista Pergolesi
Naples.
As a young boy he was a sopranist then concertmaster in the
Conservatory in Naples since 1729; his first oratorios and operas were
performed a few years later Salustia in 1731. It was the beginning of the Opera
Seria. His career flourished; he became a conductor at the court of the Prince
and many of his operas were put on stage.
The intermezzo musicales inserted in
the interludes of the long many-act operas were quite successful and even
became more popular with the audience…
There was a change of rulers - Charles Bourbon 1735 - the
position of his patrons altered, therefore, he made a short detour to Rome
where he was also cheered. He fell ill with tuberculosis so he returned to
Naples, then he moved in a Capuchin monastery in Pozzuoli where he started to
compose Stabat Mater which he completed on the day of his death in 1736.
He was
very young, barely 26.
Stabat Mater became very famous.
Deservedly.
As for the records the situation is favourable; the general
level of standard is fairly high. Right now I touch upon three - the middle one
is far too hard to obtain these days.
This nice blue has a firm fan base:
Abbado recorded it with an excellent orchestra and gorgeous
singers; one of them is my favourite - the contraalto from Venice, Sara
Mingardo. Fine, grandiose drift, beautiful continuo-organ brace; slow flow, a
bit like a mourning mass; the linked part might be part of a nice Bach cantata.
The bowers and the orchestra are playing tenderly and delightfully. The two singers
are gorgeous all and singular alike; Sara Mingardo’s voice makes us shiver.
Ceremoniousness, elegance, unbelievable empathy.
The sound quality is very good, a slightly dark shade just like the
music; it twists your soul if you listen to it on a fine chain. Practically,
you are right to say that it is a main standard; the one making a halt here cannot
be wrong.
Highly recommended.
And the recommendation is finished for
most people; you can get dressed and go to the Palace of Arts to enjoy it.
But.
The world is much more spacious and the horizon is broader
than we would think.
However, listening to the music there is a hitch
somewhere... you have some weird and unexplainable feeling of discomfort.
Fine
as it is but then what’s wrong?
Perhaps you find fault with Abbado, specialist
of music of later times? It is hard to find out while listening to this record
only - and I cannot make allegations that the approach is too romantic for it is
not at all.
Let us try making a step backward and look at the year and
mainly the map.
Rather, the real key is Naples. The city itself.
Where Pergolesi dwelled, where he opened the window in his
room.
What is it like really?
It is not slow, not rolling and mainly not
gentle.
Here comes in the second record.
If you listen to the Dantone’s part you will see clearly
what I mean.
Sunshine, glitter, the sea. No prettiness. The feast is of a
different nature. The streets are filthy but the souls are brighter. Much
brighter even before death at the age of 26. Drama is going on, the orchestra
is not snappy but playing like Vesuvius ready to erupt. Rough. The bowers are
barbarous at some places. Out of instinct. The tempo keeps being in a commotion
and change. There is no romantic waving and sunset or a pretty dreaming look
into the distance, instead, there is such a big tension that you willy-nilly
seek for some shelter to save your bacon.
Sonja Prina and Roberta Invernizzi, alto and soprano
geniuses from Milan, remember?, are singing strange way, which is rarely heard
on records. They are hardly acting as real humans, slipping out from under the
Catholic ceremonial gloss…what the South is really like.
As Don Corleone said in Godfather when he picked up a wet
pebble and he broke it into two and showed that it was wet only in the outside
but it remains what it is inside, it will never change; come what may Catholicism, religion or wars…
This flavour feels heavily in the record just like the
procession in the streets of Naples; dirty kids barefoot, wearing snow white
clothes, carrying Maria flags with genuine faith and pomp in their souls.
Some parts - the first track too - are heart-breaking at a
higher volume.
The sound quality is gorgeous.
Highly, highly recommended.
There are some who go on contemplation; they are not only
interested in the ‘authentic performance’ but how this piece went on in Naples
the time.
Believe me, Naples is an odd and unique place; for instance,
the continual, never-ending sunshine all along the year, even the colours are
different, that unbelievable filth and screw-up and the audience was far from
Bach’s Abendmusik or Vivaldi’s Venice. Salve Regina got built on or rather in
people’s souls indeed.
How? Well, as the ‘frame’ in the record into which
Pergolesi’s piece fits.
Weird, isn’t it? A Tarantella between two
Maria-adorations... however, it might have been played the same way in any
church in the vicinity of Naples.
As Le Poeme Harmonique thinks it is an even more straightforward
performance. The children choir part is like a fine membrane, it spreads out,
magic practically comes true but the violins are rigid, almost wild.
The soloists are genial; direct sounds, they decorate if needed but there is no sentimentalism; (almost not nice...) sort of Abbado as they use vibrato, it would not fit here (albeit it is very nice) (is it…?)...
The soloists are genial; direct sounds, they decorate if needed but there is no sentimentalism; (almost not nice...) sort of Abbado as they use vibrato, it would not fit here (albeit it is very nice) (is it…?)...
In other words, the
audience in Naples would throw leftover from the fish and vegetable market at
them...
It is so direct and straightforward and shouting at times that our
beloved hifi-system must organize itself together so that the sound should not be
steel-sharp. However, where the hi-fi miracle works there is not a dry eye in
the house.
Seriously.
It touches something very deep which is beyond the
category of nice/not nice.
One more time.
There are many friends of mine count Abbado’s version as a
basic standard. I never argue with them for their taste is all right, very
much, but I show these to them too...
Well, then, which is the winner?
All the three of them.
Deep inside everyone feels which one they need.
* * *
Translated by Kenesei Andrea
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Thank you for the imeges.
