Quattro Pezzi Sacri

Barbara Frittoli (soprano), Francesco Meli (tenor) & Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Regio, Torino, Gianandrea Noseda

De Quattro Pezzi Sacri behoren tot de mooiste koorwerken die Giuseppe Verdi schreef. Op het programma van deze opname staat ook het ontroerende koor uit het einde van de derde akte van "La Forza del Destino", met de sopraan solo dramatisch eroverheen. Het "Libera me, Domine" uit Verdi's Messa da Requiem is ook een van de meest ontroerende solomomenten. Barbara Frittoli en Francesco Meli schitteren naast het koor en orkest van het Regionale Theater van Turijn.

Dit is een opname van zelden gehoorde koorwerken van Verdi, uitgevoerd door volledig Italiaanse troepen - het orkest en koor van Teatre Regio in Turijn, met de solisten Barbara Frittoli en Francesco Meli, onder leiding van dirigent Gianandrea Noseda, een exclusieve Chandos-artiest - voor volkomen idiomatische resultaten.

Verdi:
 Quattro Pezzi Sacri:
 Ave Maria
 Laudi alla Vergine Maria
 Stabat Mater
 Te Deum

 Inno delle nazioni
 La Vergine degli Angeli (from La Forza del Destino)
 Libera me, Domine from ‘Messa per Rossini’

"It is temperament rather than smoothness in her singing that Frittoli brings, and it is interesting to hear the differences between this version and Verdi's later one...Gianandrea Noseda and Turin Opera's chorus master Robert Gabbiani do well to bring out the contrasts from their respective charges."
International Record Review - April 2011

"The Teatro Regio forces (under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda) deliver them with a bold sense of drama. The soloists are top-drawer Verdians too: tenor Francesco Meli has an impressively ringing top register, and Barbara Frittoli bring weight, richness and sensitive phrasing to the soprano solos."
Classic FM Magazine - May 2011 ****

"It comes as a shock (albeit a pleasantly fascinating one) to hear Verdi's rather disjointed initial thoughts for the piece...though [his] contrapuntal acrobatics in the "Libera me" fugue continue to delight and amaze, and his orchestration fizzes with its characterful vigour and colourfulness...this performance lacks nothing in terms of forward momentum or choral declamation."
Gramophone Magazine - May 2011

"The Hymn of the Nations was the Italian musical contribution to the London International Exhibition of 1862...Under Gianandrea Noseda's alert baton, it registers well here...[Barbara Frittoli] provides an ethereal close to the Te Deum, last of the Four Sacred Pieces - visionary, distilled examples of Verdi's late style whose mystery Noseda presents with considerable sensitivity."
BBC Music Magazine - June 2011 ****