Pergolesi. Stabat Mater
Jenkins. Stabat Mater

PROGRAMME:
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PERGOLESI
STABAT MATER
Soloists:
Oxana Shilova (soprano)
Ivan Borodulin (countertenor)

KARL JENKINS
STABAT MATER
Soloists:
Anna Ryazanova (mezzo-soprano)
Anastasia Melgunova (mezzo-soprano)
Alexander Gusev (ethnic vocal)
Vasily Korostelev (duduk)

The Mariinsky Children’s Chorus, Chamber Chorus and Orchestra
Conductor: Pavel Teplov

Children’s Chorus Master: Irina Yatsemirskaya

Stabat Mater dolorosa is attributed to the Tuscan poet Jacopone da Todi, a Franciscan monk who lived in the 13^th century. Although the Council of Trent excluded Stabat Mater from the Catholic liturgy in the 16^th century, composers continued to set these verses to music. In 1727 Pope Benedict XIII restored them to liturgical use.
26-year-old Giovanni Battista Pergolesi composed his Stabat Mater for soprano, alto, strings and organ shortly before his death in 1736. He “borrowed” the scoring from Alessandro Scarlatti’s Stabat Mater. This piece was performed annually in Naples during Lent, and Pergolesi apparently intended to replace it with a work in a more contemporary style. Indeed, Pergolesi’s music is written in the fashionable “galant” style – sensitive, light and humane. Many of the intonations and sharp rhythms derive from opera buffa, and while the eighth movement is called a fugue, it is not one in the strictest sense.
Despite debates about whether Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater can be considered truly sacred music, the work spread throughout Europe in the 18^th century. Some performers expanded the forces involved, adding male voices and wind instruments for a more powerful sound. Anna Bulycheva

Stabat Mater by the British (Welsh) composer Karl Jenkins (born 1944) is the most monumental among the numerous works bearing the same title. The text of the medieval Catholic sequence is heard in half of the twelve movements of this vocal-instrumental work, composed by Jenkins in 2007 and first performed – under his direction – a year later in Liverpool. The central image of the piece is the Virgin Mary grieving at the foot of the Cross. The text of another Catholic prayer, Ave verum corpus, appears in movement No. 10. Jenkins alternates Latin texts with those in various other languages, representing (conventionally) Western European and Middle Eastern civilisations, the archaic and the modern.
Known for his cultural pluralism, the composer incorporates an ancient Arabic ritual text (No. 2, Incantation), poetry by his wife Carol Barratt (No. 4, Lament), a work by the renowned Persian poet Rumi (No. 6, Now My Life is Only Weeping) and an excerpt from the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh (No. 9, Are You Lost Out in Darkness?) in English and Aramaic. Movement No. 7 – And the Mother Did Weep – is particularly multilingual, with a single line written by the composer himself sounding in five languages (English, Hebrew, Latin, Aramaic, Greek).
This striving for universality and a multi-stylistic approach is also characteristic of Jenkins’ music. The performing forces required for Stabat Mater include both a classical symphony orchestra and a multitude of ethnic instruments, including the Armenian duduk and a large group of exotic percussion (darbuka, daf, riq, dohol). The choir is presented in two formats – large and chamber. There are also two soloists: a mezzo-soprano representing the European academic tradition alongside ethnic vocals. In addition to its broad geographical scope, Jenkins’ work is characterised by a dialogue between eras – from the Middle Ages to the modern age; the “voices” of the Baroque period are particularly prominent in this dialogue. Jenkins is democratic and accessible; he caters to listeners of all levels of experience while remaining a highly skilled professional, a composer of the 21^st century. Clear ostinato rhythms, expressive melodies, fresh harmonies, intriguing timbral effects and vivid emotionality and drama have ensured the immense popularity of this talented composer’s music. Christina Batyushina