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Anton�n Dvorak’s daughter Josefa died on 21 September 1875. In response to this bereavement, Dvorak composed the initial version of his Stabat Mater – for four soloists, choir, and piano -between 19 February and 7 May 1876. He then set the work aside without orchestrating it. Soon after this, he lost his other two children in the space of a few weeks, his daughter Ru?ena on 13 August and his son Otokar on 8 September 1877. At this point he returned to the manuscript abandoned the previous year. The virtually overnight success of his Stabat Mater for soloists, large chorus, and orchestra raised him to the rank of one of the world’s leading composers of sacred music and established him notably in Great Britain, where his reputation was to remain firm for the rest of his life. This rarely recorded masterpiece has also inspired Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent. Along with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, they strip the work of all Romantic excess. The result is a spiritual journey from the sombre opening bars to the final Amen, underlining the universal grandeur of this major work of sacred music.
Tracklist
I. Stabat Mater dolorosa (Quartet, Chorus), Andante con moto
II. Quis est homo, qui non fleret (Quartet), Andante sostenuto
III. Eja, Mater, fons amoris (Chorus), Andante con moto
IV. Fac, ut ardeat cor meum (Bass Solo, Chorus), Largo
V. Tui nati vulnerati (Chorus), Andante con moto, quasi allegretto
VI. Fac me vere tecum flere (Tenor Solo, Chorus), Andante con moto
VII. Virgo virginum praeclara (Chorus), Largo
VIII. Fac, ut portem Christi mortem (Duet), Larghetto
IX. Inflammatus et accensus (Alto Solo), Andante maestoso
X. Quando corpus morietur (Quartet, Chorus), Andante con moto
Ilse Eerens (soprano), Michaela Selinger (alto), Maximilian Schmitt (tenor) & Florian Boesch (bass)
Collegium Vocale Gent – Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Philippe Herreweghe
FLAC