Album: Anna Netrebko, Marianna Pizzolato, Antonio Pappano, Stabat Mater: a Tribute to Pergolesi (Deutsche Grammophon)

When Anna Netrebko decided to dedicate a programme to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, the choice of Antonio Pappano as conductor was a crucial masterstroke.

Not only did this secure his splendid Orchestra Dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, who adapted with aplomb to the period arrangements, but Pappano's suggestion of the Italian mezzo Marianna Pizzolato to partner Netrebko on the "Stabat Mater" centrepiece proved the key ingredient to its success: so sublimely do the two voices intertwine on the duets "Stabat Mater dolorosa" and "Sancta Mater, istud agas" that one fervently hopes this is not to be a temporary alliance.

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