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Dvorak's Stabat Mater from the Berlin Philharmonic

Dvořák’s Stabat Mater from the Berlin Radio Choir and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Jakub Hrůša.

For the Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša, Antonín Dvořák’s Stabat mater is a “wonderful gift” that touches and moves people. The work stands as one of the towering monuments of choral music and was once one of the most popular works in the choral repertory. There have been other great musical settings of Jacopone da Todi’s 13th century poem Stabat mater, but Dvorak’s is by far the longest and most serious. Although conceived and written on a massive scale, Dvorak’s setting focuses primarily on two very personal aspects of the poem’s emotional world, those of grief and of solace. And that is not surprising, since Dvorak began and completed his Stabat Mater under a cloud of great personal tragedy. In 1875 his oldest daughter Josefa died only days after her birth and the grieving Dvorak turned to the ancient text of the Stabat Mater, seeing in its evocation of Mary’s grief at the death of her son a portrait of parental love and pain that he related to on a most personal level. The deaths of two other of his children followed and Dvořák took up the composition again as a way of processing his grief. The result was a sacred choral work in which dramatic outbursts alternate with moments of great intimacy ending with an ecstatic vision of resurrection.

Introduced by Fiona Talkington.

Dvořák: Stabat mater, op. 58

Corinne Winters (soprano)
Marvic Monreal (mezzo-soprano)
David Butt Philip (tenor)
Matthew Rose (bass)
Berlin Radio Chorus
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Jakub Hrůša (conductor)

Recorded in the Berlin Philharmonie 14/10/2023

1 hour, 58 minutes

Last on

Mon 11 Mar 2024 19:30

Music Played

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Stabat Mater, Op. 58

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Choir: Berlin Radio Choir. Conductor: Jakub Hrůša. Singer: Corinne Winters. Singer: Marvic Monreal. Singer: David Butt Philip. Singer: Matthew Rose.
  • Carl Stamitz

    Concerto for Flute & Oboe in G Major (Attrib. C. Stamitz): I. Allegro

    Performer: Ana de la Vega. Performer: Ramón Ortega Quero. Ensemble: TrondheimSolistene.
    • Haydn, A. Stamitz & C. Stamitz: Concertos.
    • PENTATONE.
    • 201.
  • Heitor Villa‐Lobos

    Ciclo brasileiro

    Performer: Cristina Ortiz.
    • Villa-Lobos: Piano music: Cristina Ortiz.
    • Decca.
    • 21.
  • Heitor Villa‐Lobos

    A pombinha voou (Guia prático Book 6)

    Performer: Cristina Ortiz.
    • Villa-Lobos: Piano music: Cristina Ortiz.
    • Decca.
    • 10.

Broadcast

  • Mon 11 Mar 2024 19:30