BARTOLI, CECILIA

Ceclilia Bartoli is gedreven in het vinden oude werken die wij beslist moeten horen. Dit album is geheel gewijd aan de geestelijke werken van componist en priester Agostino Steffani (1654-1728), die vooral bekend is om zijn seculiere werken. Naast het Stabat Mater, bevat het album zes werken, die nog nooit eerder zijn opgenomen. Kort voor zijn dood voltooide Steffani dit krachtige persoonlijke Stabat Mater voor solisten, koor en orkest, zondermeer zijn meesterwerk. Naast Bartoli maken veel solisten zoals countertenor Franco Fagioli en bas Salvo Vitale veel indruk. Voorts schitteren koor, orkest, de tenoren Daniel Behle en Julian Prégardian en de jonge baroksopranen Nuria Rial en Yetzabel Arias Fernandez in diverse werken zoals Sperate in Deo en Laudate Pueri. Aanrader.


Steffani: Stabat Mater

Stabat Mater
Beatus Vir
(world premiere recording)
Non Plus Me Ligate
(world premiere recording)
Triduanas A Domino
(world premiere recording)
Laudate Pueri
(world premiere recording)
Sperate in Deo
(world premiere recording)
Qui Diligit Mariam
(world premiere recording)

Cecilia Bartoli, Nuria Rial, Yetzabel Arias Fernandez, Franco Fagioli, Julian Prégardien, Daniel Behle, Salvo Vitale

I Barocchisti & Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, Diego Fasolis

“La Bartoli sings as enthrallingly as ever, and with this new CD reasserts her place as No.1 in the international diva firmament.” Financial Times Germany on Mission

Cecilia Bartoli’s exploration of the music of Steffani continues on from her best-selling recording ‘Mission’ with an album of the celebrated Stabat Mater alongside Steffani’s greatest sacred works for chorus, orchestra and soloists, constituting the most comprehensive collection of Steffani’s sacred choral music on CD.

Bartoli leads an array of internationally celebrated singers including countertenor Franco Fagioli, the bass Salvo Vitale and the two young German tenors Daniel Behle and Julian Prégardien.

Diego Fasolis conducts the authentic instrument forces of I Barocchisti and the chorus of RSI Lugano

Steffani’s Stabat Mater is his masterpiece, completed shortly before he died in 1728. It has been described as the most powerful expression of his religious fervour and, at almost half an hour, the largest-scale, most complex and heartfelt of his compositions outside his operas. The opening solo “Stabat Mater dolorosa” featured on the ‘Mission’ DVD.

The album is completed by six world premiere recordings of the best of Steffani’s remaining sacred music, including Sperate in Deo and Laudate Pueri. These are scored for orchestra, chorus and soloists featuring two young baroque-specialist sopranos Nuria Rial and Yetzabel Arias Fernandez alongside Behle, Pregardien and Vitale.

Also amongst these world premieres is Non plus me Ligate, a seven-minute solo motet for Cecilia Bartoli.