One of the first, and best, recordings of this splendid but interpretatively elusive work was made in Berlin in 1954 under the direction of Ferenc Fricsay. Like the present recording, it featured the RIAS (Berlin Radio) Chamber Choir, though in those days the fledgling choir was supplemented in the full choruses by the famous St Hedwig’s Cathedral Choir. Now it is on its own, acquitting itself superbly in all movements and dimensions; what’s more, the conductor of the entire enterprise is its own conductor, the English-born Marcus Creed.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the first recording of the work to use period instruments. In so obviously ‘vocal’ a piece, this would seem to be of no particular moment. In practice, the work’s prevailingly dark orchestral colours are memorably envisioned and realized by the instrumentalists of Berlin’s Academy for Ancient Music. The recording is also imaginatively, if not in all respects flawlessly, realized: dark, deep and full. In the grand opening movement, I found the four soloists uncomfortably far forward; but if you can establish an agreeable level for this movement, the rest of the performance will sound very well indeed. Choir and orchestra are themselves unfailingly well balanced.
Creed’s reading is full of character: immensely strong but always sensitively paced. I can imagine Rossini raising an eyebrow at his fondness for romantically protracted codas; equally, he would have applauded his sensitive moulding of the accompaniments, matched shrewdly but never indulgently to the singers’ (and the music’s) needs. The soloists themselves, young and highly talented, are excellent, more than a match for most rival teams. Oddly, the line-up, in terms of nationality and style, is not unlike Fricsay’s (Stader, Radev, Haefliger and Borg) on that older Berlin set. It is a long time since I enjoyed a performance of the Stabat mater as much as this.'