Goldline Classics: Brahms - Poulenc - Stravinsky - Verdi

Brahms: Sacred Song op. 30 Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms Verdi: Four Sacred Pieces Poulenc: Quando corpus from Stabat Mater Orchestra: Symphonic Orchestra Leon Barzin Conductor: Jean-Marie Puissant Choir: Nicolas de Grigny Choir A request for a symphony to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930 resulted in the composition of the Symphony of Psalms. The dedication to the Boston Orchestra begins: `Cette Symphonie composée à la glorie de Dieu...`. There is no doubt that Stravinsky's faith was authentic at the time the Symphony of Psalms was written. He had become a regular communicant of the Orthodox Church in 1926. The work represents Stravinsky's need to express his faith and desire to do homage to God. Stravinsky chose three of David's Psalms and treats them in the true spirit of the Old Testament. The Four Sacred Pieces were written at various times in Verdi's later years. The first, Ave Maria sulla scala enigmatica, was written in 1889, followed by a Stabat Mater, the Laudi alla Vergine Maria, on a text from Dante, and a Te Deum for double chorus and orchestra. The Four Pieces were published in 1898. The death of a friend was the inspiration for Poulenc’s Stabat Mater for solo soprano, mixed chorus, and orchestra. The medieval text is a meditation on the anguish of Mary, mother of Jesus, as she stands in his final hours at the foot of the cross. Completed within two months, Poulenc's Stabat Mater has an immediacy of expression which vividly captures the passion, suffering, sorrow, supplication, and, finally, glorious hope embodied in the prayer, perhaps more so than any other setting of the text.