Dark Mater

Boccherini wrote two versions of his much admired Stabat mater. The original dates from 1781 and is for solo voice; then, 20 years later, he revised it, on a larger scale, using three voices, in order (he said) to avoid the monotony of the single voice and the fatigue to the singer, and also adding a symphony movement to it. This 1801 version was published during his lifetime and in several later editions and seems to have eclipsed the earlier one altogether (which survives only in the autograph manuscript). Yet on hearing this new recording of the original I feel that it conveys the message of the work much more potently than does the more elaborate later version.

Once upon a time, goth rock meant a bunch of vampire-looking people playing new wave-y music. However, the times they are a changin', as goth metal has arguably become the most common and popular goth-related music circa the early 21st century. And the proof is in the emergence of such acts as Moonspell…

Georgia Caldera est une autrice et illustratrice française. Elle fut d'abord professeure de danse orientale avant de se consacrer à l'écriture et l'illustration. Ancienne élève de l'école Brassart, elle est titulaire d'un DEA d'art thérapie à la fac de médecine de Tours. Plus tard elle décide de se tourner plus concrètement vers l’écriture, accompagnant toujours ses productions de supports visuels ayant pour but de donner aux lecteurs un aperçu de ses personnages et de leurs tourments.
Elle a reçu le prix Merlin en 2012 pour son premier roman, le tome 1 de la saga "Les larmes rouges". …

A stunning collection of some of the greatest sacred music ever written. From the great Lamentations of Byrd, Tallis and Palestrina, the listener is taken on a remarkable spiritual journey through Bach’s great St Matthew Passion, Purcell’s moving and bleak funeral music for Queen Mary, and Handel radiant Messiah. Pergolesi’s masterful setting of the Stabat Mater and Telemann’s Passions-Oratorium are also to be found here, along with Haydn’s Stabat Mater and his dark and intense masterpiece Die sieben letzen Worte, or The Seven Last Words of our Saviour from the Cross. Finally, Allegri’s hauntingly beautiful Miserere opens this collection – a work that was copied from memory after one hearing by the child Mozart. Prior to that moment the work had only been heard in the Vatican.

A unique and solemn spell seems to shroud every spot as soon as Portuguese alchemists Moonspell enter the stage – and it was a very special evening indeed when the band played an exceptional show at the Campo Pequeno arena in their hometown Lissabon on February 4th, 2017…

There is still no consideration of the musical depth of Giulio San Pietro del Negro, an avant-garde composer of the early 17th century, Salentinian by birth (from Lecce) but Lombardian by artistic adoption. Thanks to in-depth studies conducted by Maria Giovanna Brindisino and Sarah Marianna Iacono, we have a rich and varied historical-biographical profile of del Negro: from a young age (1580-1600) the composer lived in Lecce; during those two decades, he probably studied under the direction of maestro di cappella Francesco Antonio Baseo; then, in the first decades of 17th century, he was warmly welcomed into the Lombardian artistic environment (artists and writers from the Accademia degli Inquieti in Milan and the Affidati in Pavia).

Deus Passus is one quarter of the Passion Project 2000, which celebrated not only the turning of the millennium but also commemorated the 250th anniversary of Bach’s death. German conductor Helmuth Rilling honored this occasion by commissioning Passions from four disparate composers: Wolfgang Rihm, Tan Dun, Sofia Gubaidulina, and Osvaldo Golijov. Deus Passus is a setting of the Passion according to St. Luke, and it is a marvel of a piece for many reasons. For a full hour and a half, with music that is mostly slow and largely atonal (in the sense that Berg’s music is atonal), the twisting, aching, unpredictable harmonies are totally captivating. Rihm chooses a straightforward setting, a simple, dramatic telling of the story, and it is in his capacity for restraint that the true brilliance of the piece lies. He uses the chorus sparingly, mostly for dramatic purposes, having it portray the angry rabble bent on crucifying Jesus (as it often does in Bach’s passions).