Stabat Mater - for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and two pianos - Vlahek, Bruno

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"For many years I had an idea to compose a musical setting on the lyrics of the medieval sequence Stabat Mater, which inspired many great composers such as Pergolesi, Rossini, Dvořák, Poulenc, Penderecki or Arvo Pärt. It is a text about a human view over the passion of Christ, full of pain and sorrow, compassion, but also about belief in redemption through faith. Through blessed Mary, mother of Christ whose feelings we try to share while following her Son in his last moments, we also take part in strong experience of Christ's passion. Moreover, in that way we get united with his human side which is close to us and which we understand the best. Unlike the Requiem which enters into deep religious dogma, Stabat Mater represents a completely personal, sincere human relation to the passion of Jesus. During almost two years of working on it, I completed this extensive composition in 2013. It merges several of major musical preferences of mine; primarily it is an interest toward sacred choral music and big vocal-instrumental forms which I combined with the sound of two pianos that I like very much, and whose rich palette of sonority and rhythm gives a specific colour to the work. There are also two soloists – soprano and baritone who have their own demanding solo arias and occasionally appear together with the choir. In musical terms, the piece is built on the themes and motives that occur thoughout the work. Those are for example the introductory motif of ascending and descending scale, the dramatic instrumental motif of the second movement, baritone aria Quis est homo which transformed brings the finale of the entire oratorio in a kind of anouncement of Easter, as well as many others. I hope that the fascination in historical and religious mysticism and personal contemporary vision of the tradition that I tried to put into this work will touch the performers and the audiances around the world. Bruno Vlahek, 2015 NB: Stabat Mater was premiered in Great Hall of the Croatian Music Institute in Zagreb, on 25th March 2015 at the 24th Festival „Pasionska baština“. The performance was given by soprano Gorana Biondić, baritone Matija Meić, pianist Dubravka Vukalović, pianist Bruno Vlahek, Chamber Choir of the Zagreb Music Academy, conducted by Jasenka Ostojić."

⌛ Period → Contemporary ◈ Genre → Oratorios ♬ Voicing → SATB ¶ Language → Latin

Parts 4

Pages 96

CPDL # 35204

Editor Bruno Vlahek

Posted 2015-04-26

License Personal