Verdi : Œuvres vocales sacrées et profanes. Agresta, Pappano.

   in Choir & Organ (Jan, 2014)
This short-measure CD follows on the heels of Pappano’s Verdi Requiem with the same Santa Cecilia forces. The Four Sacred Pieces are here captured in a live performance that reveals just how much this music is the lifeblood of these musicians. By turns sensitive and intimate, then austere, overwhelming and tremendous, Pappano directs a performance of these late pieces by a religious sceptic which has been rarely equalled since Giulini’s celebrated 1960s recording. The disc includes two rarities: the gorgeous Ave Maria from 1880, written while Verdi was contemplating Otello, with Maria Agresta a superb soloist. Agresta is also on top form in the Libera me from the multi-authored 1869 …