Messa Di Gloria (1992)/ Rossini, Gioacchino ; Marriner, Neville ; Murray, Ann ; Giménez, Raúl ; Araiza, Francisco ; Ramey, Samuel

"Gioachino Rossini's Messa di Gloria of 1821, right in the middle of the years when he ruled the operatic scene, has been less often recorded than the free-spirited and personal Stabat Mater of his old age. Various reasons could be advanced for this comparative neglect. Stacked up against Rossini's operas of the period it's something of a mixed bag. Some of it is intensely operatic, but it also looks back to the past with its giant contrapuntal "Cum sancto spiritu". One can listen for the really exceptional sound of the Chorus of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, with the tenor section achieving an uncanny blazing sound in some of the denser choral writing. And all of this virtuoso work is brought together by conductor Neville Marriner, in one of the finest performances of his long career: he sets the chorus and soloists in a sharply carved contrast and creates an image that is dramatic as a whole, an image of a church and its flock of individual followers. In all, this was eminently worthy of reissue." (Allmusic)|