On Sammartini: Sacred Cantatas Naxos' Eighteenth Century Classics series treats listeners to a couple of samplings from a genre in which Giovanni Battista Sammartini, "father of the symphony," was involved to a largely unknown extent, the sacred cantata. Both of these works come from 1751, which must have been a very sad year indeed for this composer, as they are Maria Addolorata (The Sorrowing Mary) and Il pianto di San Pietro (The Tears of Saint Peter). These works have been edited for publication by musicologist
Daniele Ferrari, and are recorded here with
Ferrari himself conducting.
The recording is of a live concert held before a very quiet audience, and made in the Parish Church of Santa Maria Hoè in Milan. The sound is very good, the resonance of the hall complementing, rather than swallowing, the music. Soprano Silvia Mapelli sings her parts of these cantatas in a light, almost pop voice with very little vibrato, a sound that is very attractive. Unfortunately, the soprano has relatively little to do in these works, whereas contralto
Sonia Prina and tenor Mirko Guadagnini have the lion's share of the singing. Guadagnini is passable, but in the title role of Maria Addolorata,
Prina sobs enough tears for 10 Marias. It would have been nice if
Prina had added some depth, and especially some dynamics, to her characterization as she delivers practically all of her singing at one volume: loud. The Capriccio Italiano Ensemble sounds like a pickup ensemble and dispenses Sammartini's orchestral music in a loose and somewhat seamy way. To some degree, this is forgivable, as the string parts in the "Sinfonia" to Maria Addolorata sound rather difficult. Il pianto di San Pietro is less so, and is played with more ease, but the score is less interesting. Anyone expecting the passion and searing emotionalism of Orlando Lasso's setting of the same source texts will be discouraged once the cheerful and seemingly carefree introduction to its "Sinfonia" gets underway. Then there is
Prina -- hiccupping her ornaments and gasping for air due to poorly learnt breathing techniques.
Listeners who are enthusiastic about the music of Sammartini will likely brave the performance and embrace this Naxos recording. Others might elect to await a better rendering, in which case they will likely have to do so for a very long time.