Haydn: Stabat Mater

René Jacobs presents Joseph Haydn’s Stabat Mater, together with the Kammerorchester Basel, Zürcher Singakademie and an excellent quartet of vocal soloists (Birgitte Christensen, Kristina Hammarström, Steve Davislim and Christian Immler). With this recording, Jacobs finally returns to a composer that is very dear to him, and offers a first vocal album on Pentatone after acclaimed interpretations of Schubert’s complete symphonies. Setting a text that depicts the most tragic event of Christ’s life, Haydn manages to find a balance between dramatic pathos and expression and a more composed, distanced portrayal, fitting his Classical aesthetic orientation. Initially composed in 1767, this recording employs a 1803 edition with enlarged wind orchestration created with the help of Haydn’s apprentice Sigismund Neukomm, which makes the work even more dramatic and colourful. Jacobs and his players and singers display a great sense of style and drama in this remarkable rendition.

Multiple prize-winning conductor René Jacobs is one of the most important representatives of the historically-informed performance practice. Haydn’s Stabat Mater is his fifth Pentatone album, after a complete Schubert symphonies cycle released between 2018 and 2021. The Kammerorchester Basel, Zürcher Sing-Akademie, Birgitte Christensen, Kristina Hammarström, Steve Davislim and Christian Immler all make their Pentatone debut.