The Stabat Mater is amongst the most celebrated of Pergolesi's sacred works, said to have been composed mere weeks before the composer's death in 1736. The original hymn to which the music is set portrays the suffering of Mary during the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, with the opening phrase 'stabat mater dolorosa' meaning 'the sorrowful mother was standing'. Pergolesi's original composition has been adapted by a variety of other notable composers, including Giovanni Paisiello, Joseph Eybler and Johann Sebastian Bach, the latter of whom used it as the basis for one of his many parody cantatas. Timothy Brown both conducts and provides the organ section for this transcendent performance of the Stabat Mater, featuring Angharad Gruffydd Jones (soprano) and Lawrence Zazzo (counter-tenor). This performance was recorded at All Saints Church in Aldwinckel, U.K. in 1996.
