Description

Pentatone: Haydn — Stabat Mater (1803 Version), René Jacobs / Kammerorchester Basel Audio CD

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

Product Type: Audio CD
Brand / Label: Pentatone
Composer: Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Version: 1803 version with enlarged wind orchestration by Sigismund Neukomm
Conductor: René Jacobs
Soloists: Birgitte Christensen (soprano), Kristina Hammarström (alto), Steve Davislim (tenor), Christian Immler (bass)
Orchestra: Kammerorchester Basel
Chorus: Zürcher Sing-Akademie (choir master: Florian Helgath)
Release Year: 2023
Genre: Classical, Sacred Choral
Style: Oratorio, Late Baroque / Early Classical
Catalog Number: PTC 5186 953
UPC: 827949095368
Condition: Factory Sealed

Product Features

Format: CD
Discs: 1
Tracks: 14
Total Runtime: 61:29
Audio: PCM Stereo, DDD
Made in Germany
Packaging: Digipak (cardboard sleeve), factory shrink-wrapped

Overview

René Jacobs conducting Haydn's Stabat Mater — and specifically the 1803 version with Sigismund Neukomm's expanded wind orchestration, which is rarely recorded and gives this Pentatone release an immediate claim on attention beyond the simply excellent cast and orchestra. Neukomm was Haydn's pupil and added wind parts that expand the work's sonic palette considerably; hearing the piece in this version, rather than the more frequently performed original 1767 scoring, is a meaningful difference.

The Stabat Mater was Haydn's first great sacred work, composed in 1767 and immediately acclaimed. Its fourteen movements follow the Latin text meditating on the Virgin Mary at the cross — music that moves between grief and consolation, chorus and solo aria, with a structural ambition that already points toward the great late oratorios. At 61 minutes, this is a substantial and demanding listening experience.

Jacobs and the Kammerorchester Basel bring the same historically informed intelligence that has made Jacobs's opera recordings so consistently valuable. The four soloists are well matched — Birgitte Christensen's soprano is clear and expressive, Christian Immler's bass anchor gives the ensembles weight, and the Zürcher Sing-Akademie under Florian Helgath is a genuinely excellent chorus. The 2023 Pentatone recording is clean and spacious, befitting the label's audio standards.

Interesting Facts

Haydn composed the Stabat Mater in 1767 at Esterháza, responding to the death of the Esterházy court kapellmeister Gregor Werner; it was one of the first works that brought Haydn international recognition beyond Austria.
Sigismund Neukomm (1778–1858) was a Viennese composer and pianist who studied with both Joseph and Michael Haydn; his 1803 wind additions to the Stabat Mater were created for Parisian performances and reflect the richer orchestral textures of the early 19th century.
René Jacobs (born Ghent, 1946) began his career as a countertenor before becoming one of the most sought-after conductors in the historically informed performance world, with landmark recordings of Mozart, Handel, and Bach operas.
The Kammerorchester Basel, founded in 1984, is a Swiss period-instrument chamber orchestra that has built an international reputation particularly through its long collaboration with René Jacobs and through the Basel Early Music Festival.
The Stabat Mater text, a 13th-century Latin sequence attributed to Jacopone da Todi, has been set by dozens of composers including Pergolesi, Scarlatti, Rossini, Dvořák, and Poulenc; Haydn's version remains among the most structurally sophisticated.
Pentatone, founded in 2001 by former Philips Classics executives, is one of the few labels that continues to release SACD-compatible multichannel recordings alongside standard CD editions; their catalogue has a strong focus on classical and early music.