Biber: Requiem a 15/Steffani: Stabat Mater

1. Requiem à 15, for solo voices, chorus, orchestra & continuo, C. 7
Composed by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber
with Marta Almajano , John Elwes , Harry van der Kamp , Koor en barokorkest van de Nederlandse Bachvereniging , Netherlands Bach Society , Mark Padmore , Mieke van der Sluis

2. Stabat Mater, for 6 voices & organ
Composed by Agostino Steffani
with Marta Almajano , John Elwes , Harry van der Kamp , Koor en barokorkest van de Nederlandse Bachvereniging , Netherlands Bach Society , Mark Padmore , Mieke van der Sluis

Tracks:

Requiem in A: Intro: 'Requiem aetenam dona eis - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Frans Huijts/Harry van der Kamp
Requiem in A: Kyrie eleison - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Frans Huijts/Harry van der Kamp
Requiem in A: Sequence: 'Dies Irae, dies illa - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Frans Huijts/Harry van der Kamp
Requiem in A: Offertorium: 'Domine Jesu Christe' - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Frans Huijts/Harry van der Kamp
Sanctus - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Frans Huijts/Harry van der Kamp
Angus Dei - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Frans Huijts/Harry van der Kamp
Communio: 'Lux aeterna luceat eis' - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Stabat mater - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Cujus animam - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Quis est homo - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Pro peccatis - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Vidit suum dulcem - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Eja mater - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Fac me vere - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Virgo virginum - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Fac ut portem - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Fac me plagis - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Inflammatur - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp
Stabat Mater: Quando corpus - Marta Almajano/Mieke van der Sluis/John Elwes/Mark Padmore/Harry van der Kamp

Biber: Requiem à 15; Steffani: Stabat Mater [Germany]

Average customer rating:

The Requiem is coming to life

Biber: Requiem à 15; Steffani: Stabat Mater [Germany]
Gustav Leonhardt
Manufacturer: Deutsche Harmonia Mun
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0001HQ2RW
Release Date: 2004-03-29

Customer Reviews:

The Requiem is coming to life.......2004-07-19

This Requiem comes from an old period like some ancestor to what we will call a Requiem a few decades later. It is not fully developed as we know today from the « models » by Mozart, Verdi or Berlioz. This Requiem is a sequence of pieces that were performed within a religious service for a dead person. This Requiem was composed for the Salzburg cathedral and the four galleries around the crossing. This fact enabled the composer to distribute his singers and instruments around this crossing, hence to give some autonomy to each group : the soloists, the brass, the choir and the violins and other instruments. This gave the composer some constraints but also some possibilities. The general atmosphere created in this Requiem is that of pomp for the burial of an important person. Biber uses all the technique of the nascent baroque age to amplify this pomp with grace and beauty. The voices are beautiful and beautifully entertwined into a whole that is very attractive. Contrast and complementarity are the main characteristics of these voices. The brass and violins are also very effectively used. Yet this Requiem does not reach the fully developed form a Requiem will reach later. And at times we are surprised by the rhythm or coloration of some pieces. The Kyrie is very slow and definitely not clear and joyous. The Dies Irae is also very pompous and does not entirely express the power of death and God. We can even think that the last piece, the Lux aeterna, does not reach the light and joy that are found beyond death. Yet this Requiem is essential to understand the emergence of the genre in baroque music, a genre that will only find its completeness in later ages, particularly in the nineteenth century, and even the twentieth century. It is in a way archeology more than a master piece.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Track Listings: