Boccherini Stabat Mater dAstorga Stabat Mater

Boccherini wrote very little vocal music; however he left two settings of the Stabat mater. He set it first in 1781 for solo soprano and strings and then in 1800 for two sopranos and tenor. This second version, heard here, was clearly influenced by the hugely popular Pergolesi Stabat mater of 1736. Emanuele d'Astorga was one of the more colorful figures of early eighteenth-century music; his life the stuff of subject of legend as much as of fact. His most enduring work has proved to be this setting of the Stabat mater, his only known sacred composition. This mid-priced reissue featuring the King's Consort's was first released in 1999.