Mater Dolorosa: Les Talens Lyriques at the Festival d'Ambronay
Christophe Rousset conducts Pergolesi, Leo and Traetta
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Cast
Maria Espada — Soprano
Monica Piccinini — Soprano
Ann Hallenberg — Alto
Milena Storti — Alto
Emiliano González Toro — Tenor
Magnus Staveland — Tenor
Frédéric Caton — Bass
Jussi Lehtipuu — Bass
Christophe Rousset — Harpsichordist, organist, conductor
Program notes
Watch Christophe Rousset and Les Talens Lyriques live from one of the Major musical events of the autumn: the Festival d'Ambronay.
Under the baton of their founder, the conductor and harpsichordist Christophe Rousset, Les Talens Lyriques open the concert with one of the sacred music repertoire's most famous and beautiful scores: Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Composed in 1736 on a text which dates back to the 13th century, the Stabat Mater tells through the voices of one soprano and one alto the pain endured by Mary while her son was suffering on the cross.
Following Pergolesi, many composers gave their own version of the Stabat Mater. Those by Vivaldi or Scarlatti for example have remained popular. Modern to contemporary composers such as Karol Szymanowski, Arvo Pärt and Bruno Coulais, have worked on their own version too. But it is Tommaso Traetta's (1727-1779) score that Christophe Rousset chose to close the concert.
It is fitting that Traetta's Stabat Mater, written for four voices and orchestra, was found in Munich. This magnificent work, probably composed in 1750, confirms the composer's mastery of counterpoint and inclination towards solemn, chromatic choral works, as integrating the harmonic napolitan language from Leo and Pergolesi.
In addition to these two Stabat Mater, Les Talens Lyriques perform Leonardo Leo's (one of Traetta's teachers at the Naples Conservatory!) Judica me Deus.
A 100% sacred Neapolitan music programme, available live on medici.tv!
Les Talens Lyriques are supported by the Ministry of Culture and Communication and the City of Paris. In addition, the ensemble is grateful for the generous support of the Annenberg GRoW Foundation – Gregory et Regina Annenberg Weingarten, the Primonial Group and the Friends of the Cercle des Mécènes. Les Talens Lyriques are members of the FEVIS and PROFEDIM syndicates.