Petite messe solennelle

From the liner notes by Tito Ceccherini: "The «Petite Messe Solennelle» stands as the ultimate masterpiece of a composer who is symbol of the belcanto tradition. Moreover, it makes direct reference to an older and very different tradition, that of Palestrinian polyphony. Finally, it displays all the most original and "modern" skills of an aged composer, who had already showed, with «Guillame Tell» so many years earlier, how much more could be invented within the linguistic boundaries of a classical musical language. We have tried to treat all elements of the work with equal care, and to realize a performance sounding classical and modern, simple and surprising, sometimes izarre and always truly inspired, as suggested by the score, written by the last classical and first modern composer of our tradition".