2 Choruses From Stabat Mater

SKU: UT.TIB-13

ISBN 9790215318458. 9 x 12 inches.

A talented and complex figure with a character of rare depth and irreproachable morals, Fermo Bellini lived a life rich in experiences in the most disparate cultural fields, building his period in music between 1839 and 1850. A pupil of the distinguished violinist and conductor Gaetano Zocca in Ferrara, he specialized on the trombone, perhaps encouraged by his teacher, who had invented a new form of bow for this instrument. His son relates his success in the various theatres where he performed and in Milan, where he was held in esteem both as a composer and a theorist, transcribing opera scores particularly for wind instruments according to the fashion of the day. He was musically productive from 1833, the date of the printing of his first work continuing til the middle of the century when his passion for literature and social comment took on greater significance. Treatises, duets, trios, quartets and divertimenti demonstrate his considerable mastery and knowledge of wind instruments. such that it made him the leading exponent of the Milanese scene: works which were published by the major publishers of Milan such as Francesco Lucca and the Ricordi family confirm the reputation and success that Bellini achieved there.

SKU: BT.PWM5447

''Stabat Mater'' by Karol Szymanowski for solo voices, chorus and orchestra, Op. 53, is one of the most famous and, at the same time, most personal works of the composer, making its appeal to the audience through the depth of its expression and sheer artistry. The first sketches of the work were made in the spring of 1925, while work on the full score occupied the composer from 20 January to 2 March 1926. Józef Jankowskis Polish translation of the medieval sequence formed the basis of the composition. This text, which was simple in a folk-like way, devoid of pathos but full of religious zeal, harmonized perfectly from the poetic point of view with the composers creative design. In an interview for the monthly Muzyka Szymanowski stated: ''in its Polish vestments that eternal, naive hymn was filled for me with its own immediate expressive content; it became something painted in colours which were recognisable and comprehensible as distinct from the black and white of the archaic original'' (''A Footnote to Stabat Mater'', Muzyka 1926, Nos. 11/12). In the score, the Latin text is given beside the Polish text, making it possible for the work to be performed more easily by foreign performers. In this work, the universal tradition of the Christian church was fused with the Polish religious tradition. The composer creates the religious folk-like climate primarily through the character of the melodies which are akin to to the plainchant melodies to the text of Stabat Mater (the sequence, and especially the hymn) and their paraphrases in Polish religious songs (e.g. Sta a Matka Bole ciwa [The Dolorous Mother was standing]) as well as motifs from Polish Lenten songs and Gorzkie ale (Bitter Laments). Szymanowski did not introduce them as quotations, but intersperses the melodic lines, which are more fully developed and frequently highly chromatic, with diatonic phrases, based on modal scales. They appear in all the movements of the work determining its cohesion. In dividing the twenty-stanza text into separate segments, Szymanowski created a six- movement cantata. He took care to distinguish between the emotional shades of the various movements, varying his selection of solo voices (soprano, contralto, baritone), the voices of the chorus (female or mixed) and the orchestral forces. In the first and third movements the lyrical idiom prevails; the first movement, portraying the Mother of God at the foot of the cross, has a narrative character, whereas the third is a kind of prayer from a man who sympathizes with, and who wishes to be associated with Mater Dolorosas pain. In these movements only the female voices are used (soprano, contralto and female chorus), while the orchestra is employed in a chamber style, sometimes drawing on solo accompanying parts (e.g. the beginning of the third movement). The fourth movement, which continues the mood of prayerful contemplation, is designed for soprano and contralto solo as well as unaccompanied chorus. On the other hand, the second and fifth movements, involving the participation of solo baritone and the full chorus and orchestra, are similar with regard to forces and their dramatic character, which is austere in expression, harsh in tone, and markedly dissonant. Here grand climaxes appear with powerful orchestral tutti. The sixth movement crowns the whole. The lyrical, soft melody of the solo soprano at the beginning is gradually strengthened by the addition of the female chorus and the solo contralto, and in the final section, the solo baritone as well as the tutti of chorus and orchestra. The conclusion, subdued and full of concentration, suggests the introvert character of the experience as opposed to its dramatic pathos. Stabat Mater by Szymanowski is part of a long tradition of compositions based on the text of the medieval sequence - ranging from polyphonic works by Josquin des Prés and Palestrina to the romantic Stabat by Giuseppe Verdi and Anton n Dvo ák. And it was perhaps because of his consciousness of this tradition that Szymanowski used stylizing devices in the spirit of early music. The archaization manifests itself not only in the character of the melodies and their modal framework, but also in the harmonies (with their predominance of triads, open fourths and fifths chords and doubled thirds), the simple rhythms as well as the texture of the choruses (esp. the fourth movement). The composer does not, however, imitate the style of any specific historical epoch, but combines resources taken from early music with modern tonal and harmonic techniques. Archaization in Stabat Mater serves, moreover, a symbolic function; in evoking the many-centuries old tradition of church music, it emphasizes the universal nature of the idea contained in the text of the sequence, while the re-reading of the text by the composer gives the work its individual features. [Zofia Helman, translated by Ewa Cholewka].

SKU: HL.48024526

ISBN 9781784544409. UPC: 888680925765. 9x12 inches. Text: Jacopone da Todi.

Composed in 2015, Stabat Mater was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen. Scored for mixed chorus and string orchestra it is a long-awaited sequel to the early masterpiece Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993), for the same forces; indeed, the later work begins with the pianissimo 'dying breaths' with which the earlier score so unforgettably closes. Cast in four movements Stabat Mater has a duration of 53 minutes. Following the première London's Financial Times commented that the composer “speaks of a 'painful world of loss, violence, and spiritual desolation' [...]. Both sides of MacMillan are to be found here,the devotional and the painter of bold, dramatic canvases - the former in the ethereal writing for solo and ensemble voices, the latter in the lacerating blows and feverish anxieties depicted in the string ensemble.&rdquo.

SKU: HL.48024551

ISBN 9781784544393. UPC: 888680916695. 7.25x10.0x0.472 inches. Text: Jacopone de Todi.

Composed in 2015, Stabat Mater was commissioned by the Genesis Foundation for Harry Christophers and The Sixteen. Scored for mixed chorus and string orchestra, it is a long-awaited sequel to the early masterpiece Seven Last Words from the Cross (1993), for the same forces; indeed, the later work begins with the pianissimo 'dying breaths' with which the earlier score so unforgettably closes. Cast in four movements, Stabat Mater has a duration of 53 minutes. Following the premiere London's Financial Times commented that the composer speaks of a 'painful world of loss, violence, and spiritual desolation'. Both sides of MacMillan are to be found here, the devotional and the painter of bold, dramatic canvases - the former in the ethereal writing for solo and ensemble voices, the latter in the lacerating blows and feverish anxieties depicted in the string ensemble..

SKU: HL.48024826

ISBN 9781784545673. UPC: 840126902464. 7.25x10.25x0.302 inches. Psalm 51.

Miserere: Songs of Mercy and Redemption is a sequence of reflections on the theme of mercy, in response to the recent and ongoing tragic conflicts in the Middle East and other regions. Woven around verses selected from Psalm 51, the inspiration for composers from Allegri to Part, the work features an eclectic range of settings of Rumi, St Thomas Aquinas, Isaac Watts, Carol Barratt and Dylan Thomas. Scored for countertenor (or mezzo-soprano), solo cello, mixed chorus, strings, harp and percussion, Miserere: Songs of Mercy and Redemption is a profound meditation on humanity and atonement, from the composer of The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, Requiem, The Peacemakers and Stabat Mater.