BBC Proms: Rossini’s Stabat mater at the Royal Albert Hall

For the 7^th August Prom, the programme sets out to envelop the audience in the sacred atmosphere of ancient churches and their masterfully crafted interiors. The task is entrusted to leading Italian figures, both in the score and among the soloists.

The night opens with Respighi’s Church Windows, four symphonic impressions that musically paint scenes from Scripture and the lives of saints, drawing on Gregorian chants. St Michael the Archangel is triumphant and jubilant, with mellow oboes. By contrast, the opening of the final movement, St Gregory the Great, strikes a lugubrious tone, before an exciting resurgence of drums and trumpets. The organ enters with a solemn liturgical passage, followed by a sequence in which the Gloria of the Mass is woven into a whizzing of violins. It’s celestial and contemplative.

In Italian, there’s a wine-themed saying that goes along the lines of “good things come in small packages”. And that certainly applies to the magnetic young Italian-Turkish conductor of the Royal Northern Sinfonia: Nil Venditti is a vivacious presence, infusing the concert with a special brio while maintaining a sleek execution across its mosaic of pieces.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra is joined – seated directly above the stage – by the BBC Symphony Chorus and Epiphoni Consort for Rossini’s Stabat Mater. The ten operatic movements into which the hymn is divided flow into one another almost without pause, particularly towards the end. The choral element is majestic in the inaugural gravity of Stabat Mater Dolorosa. Tenor Dave Monaco takes over with his commanding voice, almost entirely quietening the orchestra in Cujus Animam. Soprano Federica Lombardi and mezzo-soprano Chiara Amarù engage in a lively duet in Quis Est Homo. For Eja, Mater, the singing takes on a recitative quality, creating a stately and potent moment. This is picked up again in the 20^th verse, Quando Corpus Morietur, a beautiful dialogue between the soloists and the chorus that instantly turns into a striking roll of drums, joined in a sudden attack by the winds and strings for the closing Amen. As the voices glide through the score, the chorality of every single element on stage can almost be felt on the skin.

There’s spirituality in this music, not so much for its subject matter alone, but for the sacredness of the community formed by those performing it: a space where the ancient and the holy meet the intensity of a contemporary orchestra, within the temple that is Royal Albert Hall.

Cristiana Ferrauti
Photo: Mark Allen

For further information and future events, visit BBC Proms: Rossini’s Stabat mater’s website here.