EMI Classics releases an exciting new recording of Gioacchino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle. Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra e Coro dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Ceilia in what is considered by many to be one of Rossini's greatest achievements. Soloists Marina Rebeka, Sara Mingardo, Francesco Meli and Alex Esposito are also featured in this extravagant release. 　　 　　Part mass, part cantata, Gioacchino Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle was the most substantial work of his final years. It is a beautiful and elegant piece which movingly expresses the composer's hopes and joys and the fear of his own mortality. It was written in 1863 for private performance and is scored for four soloists and chorus, with harmonium, and piano accompaniment. 'The last', the composer called it, of my 'péchés de vieillesse' (sins of old age). Rossini discreetly orchestrated the Petite Messe Solennelle during 1866-67, without losing its candor and subtlety. The resulting version had its first public performance on February 28, 1869, three months after the composer's death, and was performed in the composer s own orchestral version at the Théâtre Italien. The music ranges from hushed intensity to boisterous high spirits, and abounds in the memorable tunes and rhythmic vitality for which Rossini became justly famous. 　　 　　Antonio Pappano, credited as one of the greatest interpreters of Rossini, is Music Director of both the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The Orchestra del'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia has been invigorated in recent years under the music directorship of Antonio Pappano. Named one of the leading orchestras in the world by Classic FM Magazine in 2010, the Orchestra and Pappano have performed at the Salzburg Festival and at the BBC Proms, among others.