Search - Stephen Powell, Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi :: Vivaldi: Gloria; Bach: Magnificat

Fine authentic instruments crushed by Soloists

Teop Tnomrev | Vermont, USA | 02/19/2006

(1 out of 5 stars)

"As with his recording of Dido, Pearlman's instruments may be authentic, but he instructs or allows his soloists to belt out their lines with all the tact of opera in the full throes of Wagner. For those who swoon at the sound of the full throttled, warbling operatic voice, this is the recording for you, otherwise, stay far, far away.



The voices entirely overpower any sense of ensemble -- which is to say, the "authentic instruments" are thoroughly dominated by the soloists.



Besides that, these performances really add nothing new. They are conventional in every sense of the word.



"

Yeah, not so good.

DAK | Tucson, AZ United States | 08/15/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I'll give it some points for good recorded sound, but the performance really isn't what I was looking for. Some of the soloists aren't bad, but one at least (in the Bach exsultavit movement) sounds just amateurish. Not to mention a one oboe line where the player is essentially inaudible except for the dissonant note in the melody, making it sound like a really bad mistake. I'll stick with the Gardiner recording for now."