Vespers

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was born in 1710 and died at the age of 25 in 1736, twenty years before Mozart was born. If Mozart had died at 25, his last opera would have been Idomeneo and none of his greatest works, from the Abduction from the Seraglio to the Requiem, would have been composed. And think what music would never have been written if only 25 years had been allotted to Lassus, Haydn, or Janacek! Breath for mortal breath, one could make a case by comparison that Pergolesi was the greatest prodigy in musical history, particularly since his final works, the ineffable Stabat mater and the sublime Salve Regina, were composed on his death bed. What might he have written if he'd lived to a mature 35?

If it's the choicest performance of those two masterpieces that you want, read no further! My immediate recommendation would be the recording by Il Seminario Musicale, with Gerard Lesne and Veronique Gens singing. The Salve Regina is included on Disk 2 of this "Marian Vespers", sung by Sophie Danemen and Noemi Kiss with all the musical forces of Oxford backing them up, but the performance doesn't approach the exquisite virtuosity of Lesne's. The chief interest of this 2-CD recording by the Academy of Ancient Music and the Choir of New College Oxford is in the presentation of three Psalm settings -- Dixit Dominus, Laudate pueri, and Confiteabor -- usually incorporated in Marian vespers but composed independently at various stages of Pergolesi's short life. The 'Confiteabor' is an awesome piece, as fine as anything Pergolesi wrote, but all three Psalms could stand alone in concert performance. Stitching them together as elements of a hypothetical Vespers on the scale of Monteverdi's neither adds nor detracts from their magnificence.

Honestly, Pergolesi never wrote such a monumental Marian Vespers, and if he wrote anything approximating it, that music has been lost. Musicologist Malcolm Bruno has assembled the three Psalms and the Salve Regina with two sonatas for strings and a number of "contrafacta", that is, unfinished or sketchy compositions that he has, to one degree or another, reconstructed. The least effective of Bruno's contrafacta, to my ears, is the "Magnificat", which he has based on an incomplete secular cantata, underlaying the liturgical text and orchestrating the four movements quite grandly. The orchestration and the use of a large chorus, Bruno admits in his notes, is not what Giovanni Battista would have expected; to my taste, there's more of the English Handel in it than of the Italian Pergolesi. Let's be blunt. Heard as a single composition, this Marian Vespers lacks any kind of cohesion or development. The splitting of the two string sonatas into 'intermezzi' between the psalms was a bad idea, a fragmentation of Pergolesi's subtle symmetry that only adds to the 'jumpiness'.

I'd probably feel more generous toward this performance if it were offered as a program of separate compositions, rather than as a grandiose Reconstruction by an over-confident academic. And yet... like the previous reviewer who made the same complaints, I'm delighted enough by the singing and playing, and thrilled enough to have any recordings of the three Psalm settings, that I consider four stars the least I could award. After all, if I could descend to Hades like Orpheus or Hercules, and offer myself as a surrogate for Pergolesi, I'd at least consider the sacrifice.

An attempt to re-create something of various works can hardly be successful. Here, we have Pergolesi's compositions of his different creative periods and plus a spurious (though very Pergolesian) Magnificat. The result doesn't look convincing. I would prefer listening to only what has survived, without mixing and recreating the whole (the Introit and three Psalms are things to perform them as they are). Secondly, each of two sonatas for violin and cello was divided in two and placed between the psalms - it was a poor idea (I can understand the performer's wish to build an original version, but if you haven't a sufficient material, please, don't fabricate it. That is why it would be better to play what we have, but not what one would like to have). The sonatas themselves were played without any ispiration. Try, for example, the performance by I SOLISTI DI MILANO: they play a little romantic, but you will be enthralled by them for sure. Also, I didn't love the present version of Salve Regina - it seems quite monotonous, tempi of the movements aren't much varied.

But the Introit, Psalms and Magnificat are vivid and joyful. That is why I have given 4 stars

The title of this recording was surely set to catch an eye, as I have never heard of Pergolesi's Marian Vespers; and my first reason to get it was to compare his music with that of Handel from his Marian Cantatas:

Marian Cantatas & Arias

However, what a surprise this 2-CD set turned out to be! First of all, there were not, after all, any Marian Vespers by Pergolesi, and in a way the title contributes further to forgery of Pergolesi music that the recording director, Malcolm Bruno, so criticizes! Yet we know that life is full of contradictions and artists are especially at home there, yet they in turn can bring new discoveries, and this is exactly what happens with this recording - the greatest jewel of CD1 brings two psalms whose authenticity had to be completely verified - Psalm I - Dixit Dominus (CD1, track 5-12) and Psalm III - Laudate (CD1, track 24-30) - these two psalms have been discovered in autograph. In fact, these two psalms, according to Pergolesi's first biographer the Marchese di Villarosa (Carlo Antonio de Rosa), were parts of a vespers that Pergolesi was commissioned to write in the aftermath of a series of earthquakes that occurred in Naples in 1932, to celebrate the protector-Saint St. Emidius.

Two other pieces, including the vespers Introit "Domine ad adjuvandum" (CD1, tack 1-4) and Psalm II - Confitebor (CD1, tack 15-21) were also part of the vespers, and only fragments of Introit were found in an autograph.

It is extremely interesting to listen to these Introit and three psalms to observe how Pergolesi style varies in these different pieces. For me, Psalm I - Dixit Dominus sounds almost Mozartian, and with so typical Pergolesian tremble as we hear in his Stabat Mater, his most famous opus. However, Psalm III - Laudate - sounds to me very Handelian, with the very first part "Laudate pueri" (CD1, track 24) reminding strongly of Handelian "Rejoice, the daughter of Zion" from Messiah, although Messiah was not even composed in 1732 (Handel did it in 1741)! According to the booklet, this particular psalm is certainly a later work, and the latest Pergolesi could have done it is 1736; of course, Handel's operas have many similar fragments prior to the resulting in the "daughter of Zion".

From the Introit (Domine ad adjuvandum) the part "Alleluia" (CD1, track 4) is also curious to compare to George Frederick, since here it does not remind his music at all, and sounds very original - however the booklet does not specify if this particular part was part of Pergolesi's autograph. The music of this Alleluia is to me very cheerful and even somewhat naughty - could it be because it was written by a very young person? while Handel's foremost Hallelujah is so grand and heavy, so mature, with magnificent counterpoint... Yet I think those believing in the supernatural agency could use this Pergolesi's Alleluia to raise on their feet, as they love to do so with Handel's - since Pergolesi's Alleluia is equally marvelous.

Psalm II - Confitebor is clearly written in yet another style! Malcolm Bruno, the author of this recording programme, suggests that it is Vivaldian in character, although I hear more Handel there than Vivaldi. Still, we have at least three styles clearly influencing Pergolesi on CD1, and CD2 has other surprises!

CD2 was a major discovery for me in its Sonata for cello and basso continuo (CD2, track 8-9). It is this music that so impressed Igor Stravinsky that he completely borrowed its second movement (VI) - Presto (track 9) for his Pulcinella Suite, where it became VII. Vivo (Duetto). One can listen to this metamorphosis on this Pulcinella recording by Pierre Boulez (there it is track 16):

Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite

My critique would be to cut Salve Regina so mercilessly - it is a great work written by Pergolesi in the last two months of his life, representing his mature style, by then attained his own individuality for which his genius is famous. I think adding just a track from Salve Regina reduced the prestige of this collection and music directors should avoid such temptation as the reinventing of a great composer - after all, it was the composer who was a genius, so why not let him sing as he conceived it, not as a musical critic sees it. I have removed one rating star for these liberties, making it a four-star recording. At the same time, I am grateful to this recording for bringing new aspects of Pergolesi's art.

One would also be astonished at the spectre of Pergolesi's talent - he was even busier as an opera composer, and there his musical development is just as striking - if he sounds more like an earlier Neapolitan composer Alessandro Scarlatti in his opera Lo frate 'nnamorato (The monk in love, 1732):

Pergolesi - Lo Frate 'Nnamorato

Then in his most famous opera, La Serva Padrona, written only one year later in 1733, he is already at his own distinctive style, somewhere close to Mozart while Alessandro Scarlatti's style is abandoned.

Pergolesi: La Serva Padrona

His life was so cruelly short, compared to all composers aforementioned; one little consolation could be that he spent the last months of his life in the care of Franciscan monks in Pozzuoli, a suburb of Naples, today irrevocably disfigured by the post-war urban sprawl, but in his day being pure paradise, admired by all the Grand Tour tourists, including Goethe and many others. The weather and climate are so balmy and ideal that words cannot describe; a marvelous Roman amphitheater, a small version of the Coliseum (although not so small!) testifies to the popularity of the place. In the nearby Baiae there were once Roman imperial villas, which sunk with the change in the seashore line - another reminder of Vulcan-Vesuvius reign there! And the strange beauty of Solfatara, still very much active and fuming, and lastly, the town of Cumae, where Cumaen Sybil still lives in her amazing long mysterious cave-tunnel...

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel [detail] 16x5 Streched Canvas Art by Michelangelo

How regrettable that all these wonders did not save Pergolesi's life, but at least he lives in his art, rejoicing our hearts. Alleluia!

Here in Boston we recently had Rinaldo Alessandrini conducting Salve Regina (and Stabat Mater); it was awesome, and I include some info in comments for those who are curious. Luckily, we had a full performance of Salve Regina - not as on this CD, while the singing and musical direction on the recording are quite good, I especially love the voice of Sophie Daneman. However it pales in comparison to Alessandrini's performance, with a young soprano Liesbeth Devos (see comments encore). I wish there was here a third CD with the full Salve Regina to do justice to Pergolesi's enduring fame.

Overall, a highly recommended recording.