Search - Gioachino Rossini, Robert King, The King's Consort :: Rossini - Petite Messe Solennelle / Sampson, Summers, Tortise, Foster-Williams, The King's Consort, King

Rossini composed his Petite Messe Solenelle in 1864, thirty-five years after he had retired from writing operas. It was first performed not in a church but in a Parisian townhouse, for 12 singers, two pianos and harmonium. He later orchestrated it, but the original version, the one performed here, is very special indeed, and this performance adheres to the letter of the original score, even using pianos and a harmonium that were in use when Rossini composed the work. Those who love Rossini's operas will find little of the floridity in the vocal writing so crucial to his stage works, but they will be just as entertained. Religious or not, Rossini was a man of the theater, and this work's 19 brief movements, so differently scored - some for full chorus, some for solos, some duets, even a solo piano "prelude" - is a delight from start to finish. And don't let the "Solenelle" part dissuade you from buying a recording of this work - it is practically jolly in some of its rhythms. The slim vocal forces allow us to hear all of the composer's harmonic inventiveness and the acoustic is not churchy. This is a wonderfully intimate performance of this unique work and Robert King, his soloists, chorus and keyboard players are to be congratulated. --Robert Levine