Search - Gioachino Rossini, Ottorino Respighi, Alfreda Hodgson :: Gioachino Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle; Ottorino Respighi: Deità silvane; Trittico botticelliano

An excellent recording of Rossini's Mass

reiss_rein | chester, va United States | 07/15/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"You will be most pleased with the clarity and balance of this CD. I have purchased recordings of choirs where the organ blows away the choir, where the choir is recorded in their home cathedral so you hear echos for five seconds and all the words jumble together, and where you'd give an arm and a leg for the text of the songs just so you could understand with the heck the choir was singing. NOT SO HERE!!
This CD is exactly what I'd hoped it would be - a recording that I could understand without having to rely on text. The harmonium provides an excellent backdrop to the choir, as all instruments should, so you don't have to struggle to hear the choir over the music. The tempo of the piece is very close to what our choir sang, making this a CD I will enjoy with good memories for many years.
As for the other pieces on this CD, I don't listen to them. The quality is just as high for these as for Rossini's MASS, but they're not my style."