STABAT MATER

The Stabat Mater, a 13th century poem describing in 20 verses the imagined sufferings of the Virgin Mary at the foot of the cross, has attracted composers over the centuries, from Palestrina and Vivaldi, to Rossini or more recently K. Jenkins.

Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, divided into 10 wonderfully varied but also completely coherent movements, was begun in 1876, in memory of his daughter Josefa. The full score was completed in 1877 after the death of two other children. With such a terrible burden of personal grief, this work by Dvořák is unusual in choral concert programmes, largely because of its length and the profound sadness it reflects.

Under the baton of José Antonio Sáinz Alfaro, two top-level formations such as the Orfeón Donostiarra and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Musikene; and the solo voices of Tanya Durán Gil, Cristina del Barrio, Beñat Egiarte and David Cervera perform this masterpiece by the Czech composer Dvořák. Not only is it one of his most beautiful compositions, of unquestionable quality, but it is also one of the great choral works of the 19th century.