The finest recording we have yet had of the Petite messe solennelle, the deleted Eurodisc version led from the keyboard by Wolfgang Sawallisch (12/85), was a live performance; and the present recording also draws inspiration from being live.
Doubly so, in fact. In June 1992 whilst the Paris Opera was on tour in Seville a member of the chorus was killed and several members seriously injured when the stage scenery collapsed. This performance of the Messe was given in the Salle Cortot Paris in memory of the singer who died, Anoucha Taffary. The royalties from the recording will be added to a fund for a singing competition that is being set up in her memory.
In the circumstances, it would be agreeable to be able to report that this new recording was an exception to the rule in what is an increasingly lengthy list of unrecommendable recordings of the piece. Unfortunately, whatever the merits of the performance live and in situ, they don't travel especially well. There is a slightly improvised air about the whole thing, especially the singing. And though it might appear to be an irrelevant quibble in the circumstances, the edition being used—the old Ricordi version for one piano, complete with misprints and various otiose twiddles—isn't the ideal basis for a library recording.
So, a worthy performance in a worthy cause, but the Simon Halsey recording with the CBSO Chorus remains unchallenged among currently available versions. It is available on CD and cassette and has the advantage of using the authoritative new edition by Nancy P. Fleming recently published by OUP in their Oxford Choral Music series. It costs £10.95 in soft covers and I strongly commend it to anyone contemplating performing or recording the work in the future—at least, until the Fondazione Rossini publishes the Critical Edition that Pierluigi Petrobelli is working on. The old Ricordi version used here (Ricordi/Novello in the UK) is now some way past its sell-by date.'