Leonardo Leo (1694 – 1744)
Beatus vir qui timet pour alto – inédit
Nicola Porpora (1686 – 1768)
Salve Regina pour soprano – inédit
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710 – 1736)
Stabat Mater
Soprano | Sandrine Piau
Alto | Christopher Lowrey
Les Talens Lyriques
Direction | Christophe Rousset
So dear to Christope Rousset’s heart, the Neapolitan School appears here as a chosen “snapshot” of sacred Naples at the beginning of the XVIIIth century, unveiling itself through its most beautiful music, emblematic or unheard of.
On CD, Les Talens Lyriques have already issued a referential recording of the Stabat Mater by Pergolesi (1710-1736), in which purity and sensuality compete with each other. Now they are releasing a new version of this chef d’oeuvre of the repertory, calling for two voices mixed together, that of the soprano Sandrine Piau, and that of the countertenor Christopher Lowrey. The lamentation of a mother, so much a recurrent theme in baroque art, was so beautifully musically set, that the work is in the artistic Pantheon, ever since its first performance.
To this hymn we are adding two totally unheard of scores: a Beatus vir qui timet by Leo for countertenor, as well as a Salve Regina by Porpora for soprano. Two great masters of Italian opera, Leonardo Leo (1694-1744) and Nicola Porpora (1686-1768),have not left behind less magnificent sacred music, oratorios and motets. These two unearthed manuscripts, contemporary with Pergolesi’s chef d’oeuvre are of enormous expressiveness, delicate but asserted.
