Ensemble Resonanz / Minasi,Riccardo Pergolesi: Stabat Mater CD

Two of Bach's finest cantatas, both for solo alto, composed in Weimar (1714) and Leipzig (1726) respectively, are here coupled with Pergolesi's Stabat Mater of 1736, the eighteenth century's favourite sacred work. The gap between austere Lutheran piety and searing Mediterranean emotionalism might seem unbridgeable. Yet Bach so admired the composition of his Neapolitan colleague that he made his own 'parody' of it to a German text. On this recording, La Nuova Musica and it's two eminent soloists display equal mastery of both idioms.

1. Stabat Mater, P. 77: I. Stabat Mater dolorosa. Grave 2. Stabat Mater, P. 77: II. Cujus animam gementem. Andante amoroso 3. Stabat Mater, P. 77: III. O quam tristis et afflicta. Larghetto 4. Stabat Mater, P. 77: IV. Quae moerebat et dolebat. Allegro 5. Stabat Mater, P. 77: V. Quis est homo. Largo 6. Stabat Mater, P. 77: VI. Vidit suum dulcem natum. Tempo giusto 7. Stabat Mater, P. 77: VII. Eja mater fons amoris. Andantino 8. Stabat Mater, P. 77: VIII. Fac ut ardeat cor meum. Allegro 9. Stabat Mater, P. 77: IX. Sancta mater, istud agas. Tempo giusto 10. Stabat Mater, P. 77: X. Fac ut portem Christi mortem. Largo 11. Stabat Mater, P. 77: XI. Inflammatus et accensus. Allegro ma non troppo 12. Stabat Mater, P. 77: XII. Quando corpus morietur. Largo assai - Amen. Presto assai 13. Sonata a quattro in F Minor, Op. 1 No. 4 (Imitatio in Salve Regina, Mater Misericordiae): I. Andante 14. Sonata a quattro in F Minor, Op. 1 No. 4 (Imitatio in Salve Regina, Mater Misericordiae): II. Adagio 15. Sonata a quattro in F Minor, Op. 1 No. 4 (Imitatio in Salve Regina, Mater Misericordiae): III. Allegro 16. Salve a duo: I. Salve Regina. Largo 17. Salve a duo: II. Mater misericordiae. Andante 18. Salve a duo: III. Ad te clamamus. Largo 19. Salve a duo: IV. Eia ergo. Allegro 20. Salve a duo: V. Et Jesum. Andante 21. Salve a duo: VI. O Clemens. Largo