99.00 PLN

SACD Multi-CH:

Nr kat.: PRSACD2040
Label  : Proprius (Szwecja)

TWO OF SWEDEN'S MOST WELL-ESTABLISHED SINGERS PERFORM PERGOLESI'S FAMOUS STABAT MATER The familiar text describing the Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross is thought to be about 700 years old. The author, despite numerous theories, remains unknown. Originally the words were, of course, sung in unison and the poem had a place in the liturgy, at least about the end of the 15th century.Pergolesi died young, probably from tuberculosis. He spent the last part of his life in a monastery. It was there, with trembling hand, that he wrote about Mary at the foot of the cross - for the same brotherhood as the Scarlatti setting; according to an account written one hundred years later. The writer also maintains that the brotherhood wanted to bring their traditions up to date by changing their music. Scarlatti's Stabat Mater is undated so no one knows how many years it served the brotherhood. It is very possible that it is a late work. Pergolesi was fifty years younger and he naturally had different musical ideas of the sort that people commissioning works often adhered to. There was normally little interest in "old" music in former times even though the Church could adhere to a tradition in music too. But the brotherhood did not need to feel that sort of responsibility in its own activities.There are certain similarities between the two settings presented here. This is largely due to the fact that both works are scored for the same forces: two voices (castrati and/or falsetto voices at the time), two or three violinists and continuo. (In this aspect there was no novelty about the settings; the brotherhood may not have been able to afford more musicians.) The musical symbolism is not all that different either but Pergolesi's style is much simpler. He makes little use of counterpoint as compared with Scarlatti's intricate flow and his more solid harmonies change very slowly. Though not at all unpleasantly...