All the contemporary witnesses owed the deep impression made on them by Pergolesi's church music to the singing of castrati. As often and willingly as...

All the contemporary witnesses owed the deep impression made on them by Pergolesi's church music to the singing of castrati. As often and willingly as Stabat Mater is sung and heard with women's voices today, it was the pure, ethereal voices of two castrati who first lent the proper expression to the gallant pain of Pergolesi's Passion sequence. Michael Hofstetter and the two young singers on this recording liberate his music from the cliche of a thoroughly soft music of sentimental feelings. The vocal lines come to life thanks to the typical manners of the castrati: The short grace notes, slides, trills and the 'messa di voce'. Dr. Karl Behmer.