To Saint Cecilia

The deluxe presentation of this 2CD set of three settings by Purcell, Handel and Haydn of music in celebration of Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, leads one to believe that the performances will be special. They are anything but. Although I have liked much of Marc Minkowski's recorded work in the past, this time it seems he is hampered by less-than-acceptable singing and playing as well as his own tendency to let things sag. The participating musicians are, one would have to say, provincial on the whole. The chorus, asked to sing in English, is a French group from Grenoble; their English diction is, to say the least, idiosyncratic. But so is the diction of some of the anglophone soloists. That might not be so objectionable if the voices themselves were striking, but in fact they mostly are not. Richard Croft, a usually fine tenor, sounds fuzzy. Lucy Crowe has a fine voice but her diction is muddy. And so it goes. One perks up when tenor Anders J. Dahlin and contralto Nathalie Stutzmann come on the scene; they are superior.

There has been at least one previous multi-CD set comprising these three celebrations of Saint Cecilia, that on Virgin Classics Santa Cecilia: Purcell, Handel, Haydn, and although it was put together from three separate single issues and features three different conductors (Andrew Parrott, Philip Ledger, Michel Corboz) it is superior on all counts. And this says nothing of other superior single issues, e.g., Pinnock's Handel Handel: Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, Gardiner's Purcell Gardiner Purcell Collection - Hail ! Bright Cecilia, Hogwood's Haydn Haydn - Great Organ Mass · St. Cecilia Mass · Missa Sancti Nicolai · Missa Brevis / Nelson · Kirkby · Watkinson · Hill · Thomas · AAM · Hogwood.

One word on the presentation: The two CDs come bound into a hard-bound book that contains lavish full-color fine-art reproductions of paintings depicting Saint Cecilia as well as several really quite nice essays centering on the saint by Hilary Finch, Ivan A. Alexandre and Marc Minkowski. This, alas, does not make up for the deficits of the performances.

Scott Morrison

I am something of a baroque neophyte, so I have no fixed idea of how this music should sound ideally. But to me this is stirring, moving, energetic and bright stuff. The kind of music you want to listen to in the morning to get going.

I feel that with this recording, Minkowski, as well as with his Rameau cd (Rameau - Une Symphonie imaginaire) has opened a new musical wing for me to explore. The music sounds of a time, but also has a certain "modern" attention to detail that Minkowski is well known for, and wich makes the music entirely accesible.

The only points off I give this cd is are in the quality of the recording. It sounds fine, but It could have been much better. The sound feels a bit... squished. As if the chorus were too close together to the rest of the orchestra. I also don't know what's the deal with the fancy package. I'd rather the cd cost less.

This album contains 3 works dedicated to St. Cecilia : Odes by Purcell and Handel, and a Mass by Haydn. The good news is that the Handel is excellent, Lucy Crowe giving a fantastic performance in all her arias, Richard Croft manages not to sound like a turkey while singing "the double double double beat" and the orchestral soloists are crisp and energetic. A success in my book.

The Purcell is very good but is not, in my taste, of the same level as Handel. If you already have "Hail ! Bright Cecilia", you don't need this one.

The Haydn "St. Cecilia" Mass consists here of only the Kyrie and Gloria, with 2 movements of the Credo thrown in. H. C. Robbins Landon has identified two inks and types of paper used to write this mass, suggesting the Kyrie and Gloria were written then, the rest much later. So Minkowski doesn't record the whole thing in order to fit all on 2 CDs. So, if like me you prefer complete versions, you need to look elsewhere.

Because of the length of the pieces, they cut Handel's Ode in half, right after the March. This completely breaks the flow of the piece and is clearly unacceptable.

The high price is justified by the fancy booklet. Inside are 2 essays, a note by Minkowski, the lyrics in French, English, German and Latin (for the Mass), and reproductions of portraits depicting St. cecilia. Only 4 show the Saint completely, all others are close-ups of the hands. Who cares ? And even those that show the Saint are only details of the whole portrait. Again pointless. The first essay, by Hilary Finch, is quite good and informative. The second, by Ivan Alexandre, is the typical pedantic dreck written by Frenchmen for countless CD liner notes. I am a francophone from Québec, so I read them and am aghast every time. An excerpt : "the least pure of exegeses achieves the status of pure cinematography". Another : "Litterature, for example, has never managed to draw from the novel what seems so natural in the theatre". Personal opinions couched as facts. You won't read it a second time. Minkowski's notes are informative, but you won't read them often either.

So, I do not recommend this album, which is unfortunate. However, as luck would have it, the Handel version recorded here is also available as Song for St Cecilias Day - a 5-star album that will give you what you really need - the Handel !

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