[JosefinaHW]

Only seven posts in the Vincenzo Bellini Thread!?! Someone please explain why there are so few recordings of Bellini's Masses: Only three recordings available on Presto or AmazonUSA. I've listened to three different masses and I think they are all beautiful. I'll post the best performance of any that I have found on YouTube. I think the music is gorgeous, Mass in A Minor:

Margherita Rinaldi, soprano
Dora Carral, mezzosoprano
Ernesto Palacio, tenor
Agostino Ferrin, bass

Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro di Roma della RAIGianni Lazzari, choirmaster Fernando Previtali, conductor(PAL 4:3 |
live, Chiesa di S.Ignazio, Roma | 26 September 1975)audio remaster: Emilio Pessina, 2015

 

[JosefinaHW]

Because more people are interested in his operas, and while you may like his masses, there just isn't enough interest in them for someone to deem it financially worth it to commit to a recording and distribution of them.

Are you in fact familiar with his masses? I can find very little information about them. A wikipedia article mentions that he composed approx. 30 masses. The Petrucci score library entry for Bellini lists no masses; it does mention that a piece of sacred music by Bellini is included in another collection of music, but that work is not large enough to hold several masses.

I no longer have access to the Grove Encyclopedia online, so I have no idea what it has to say about Bellini's sacred works. When there is only one biography about a composer and it is out-of-print it also makes me suspect that good (or any) information is not yet available. I did read that a friend (and possible lover) destroyed some of Vincenzo's letters and then fabricated or edited others, so maybe this has hindered research into Bellini's works.....

 

[JosefinaHW]

I remember the sacred pieces were issued on CD on the Bongiovanni label, I had a catalog at one point, but I can't find at the moment. Bongiovannt recordings are usually live and the performers are of provincial quality.

This also of some may be of some help
https://www.allmusic.com/composition/mass-for-soloists-chorus-orchestra-in-g-minor-mc0002520433

Just found this a review from the American Record Guide Jan/Feb 2002

BELLINI: Masses; Salve Regina
Lucca Opera/ Gianfranco Cosmi Bongiovanni 2295-74 minutes

The three works-two Masses and a Salve Regina-offered here were student efforts, written before Bellini went to the conservatory in Naples, or possibly as compositions submitted to that institution as part of the admission requirements. While all three have pleasant moments and show promise for the future, they scale no heights and plumb no depths. Only in the 'Qui tollis' of the Masses do we hear the composer of Norma and Puritani (the somewhat unusual combination of baritone soloist and orchestra in the Salve Regina also resembles a scene from an early opera). ...The Lucca forces perform with a sure sense of style ...and the sound from the Basilica di San Frediano is excellent.

Cheers

I don't have anything to add right now, but I didn't want too much time to elapse before I thanked you for taking the time to post all this information. Eramire. Many thanks and I will find and explore the Bongiovanni catalog.