Some of the most beautiful dissonances in all of music history, the opening of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater is nothing more or less than that. With lilting, recognizable melodies, the Italian aimed for instant emotion and immediate compassion. To those melodies he added progressive techniques, in the form of chromatics, trills and sighing preludes, to give the text as much emotional depth as possible.
The abrasive sorrow charmed Bach as well; why else would the polyphonic grandmaster take pains in his old age to arrange Pergolesi’s world-famous work, so different from his own cerebral style? What is all but certain is that Bach took the work to an even higher level. He wove ingenious counterpoint throughout, made the orchestration richer, and, with minimal structural intervention, put even more tension on the dramatic arc.
With the cantatas “Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust” and “Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut,” René Jacobs – pater familias of the B’Rock family – chooses the two perfect works to flank the Stabat Mater. The two solo cantatas are also particularly expressive, emphasizing the individual and personal suffering. Unusual for Bach’s doing – but so was the arrangement of the Stabat Mater, and hear how it turned out…
This production was realized with the support of the Tax Shelter measure of the Belgian Federal Government through Flanders Tax Shelter
