Search - Claudio Monteverdi, Diego Fasolis, Concerto Palatino :: Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine / Fasolis

If only the soloists...

Arnout Koeneman | the netherlands | 07/15/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The expectations I had for this recording are in most ways full-filled.

A lively performance with big sumptious sound, great choir and a rich orchestral accompaniment.



The choir is very good, considering it is a live performance, it is homogeneous, though transparent.

The soloists are great as a group, but unfortunately some not that good individually.



Why Fasolis chose Marco Beasly as the solo tenor remains a mystery to me.

His "Nigra Sum" is rather weak, not his involvement - he tries the best he can - but his voice lacks body in my opinion

The most positive way I can describe his voice is that it might suite French Baroque well.

His voice is lean, feminine and elegant.

To me, at first - it is not my intention to insult - but honestly, to me he sounded like an cruiseship entertainer or wedding singer at first...but I got used to it.



(I therefore do not agree with the positive comments by Roger Tellart on goldbergweb.com "Moreover, the listener will not easily forget the committed accents of the tenor Marco Beasley in a most virtuosic "Nigra Sum".

Tellarts opinion obviously has more weight, I'm no expert and not educated in (old) music ...but why not listen for yourself?)



Why didn't Fasolis choose the bariton Furio Zanasi? who has a bass part on this recording and who sings "Audi coelum" beautifully on Garrido's recording of the Maria Vespers.

Is it because "Nigra Sum" is supposed to be performed by a tenor only?

A pitty, because Zanasi's voice is fullbodied and warm timbred, very reminiscent Victor Torres (Orpheus in Garrido's recording of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo")



"Audi coelum" is remarkably better sung by Beasley than his "Nigra Sum", I was surprised by it.

But his echo, sung by Giuseppe Maletto sounds more powerful, has a warmer and richer timbre, if only Fasolis would've chosen...oh well, I'm not gonna repeat myself.



The soprano's Marinella Pennicchi and Anna Simboli blend very well in an ensemble setting and with the full choir, but solo and in a duet like "Pulchra es" they don't convince me the way Maria Cristina Kiehr and Barbara Borden (Rene Jacobs' recording) and Emanuela Galli and Adriana Fernandez (Garrido's recording) do.



Diego Fasolis' pacing and phrasing is in most parts very similar to Garrido's, brisk and 'Italic', it therefore surprised me that his "Nisi Dominus" is slower, more like Jacobs' pacing...but Fasolis is more imagitive in this part than Jacobs, a sudden subtle crescendo of the choir near the end is very nice.



How much I lke Fasolis' performance of the "Magnificat", I feel the intervals between the sections are taken too long, he therefore emphasizes the fragmented structure rather than trying to make a whole of it.

Garrido and Jacobs do a better job here, in my opinion.



Overall I like this recording very much, mostly because of the excellent choir which I like better than Garrido's and Jacobs'.

It's a pitty the soloists aren't on the same level, otherwise this performance would've been excellent, worthy of five stars."