Anonymous:
Stabat Mater (plainsong)

James MacMillan:
Stabat mater dolorosa
Quis non posset contristari
Sancta mater, istud agas
Fac ut portem Christi mortem

Few living composers communicate with the emotional directness of Sir James MacMillan and his belief that ‘beauty is at the heart of our Christian faith’ is profoundly present in his new setting of the Stabat mater. Arguably one of the most powerful poems in the liturgy, only a small number of composers have tackled the Stabat mater in the last 30 years and the musical world has waited a long time for a substantial setting. In James MacMillan’s version we are witness to a new and intensely personal work which encapsulates the power of the poem in a way no other composer has done to date.

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Recorded at Church of St Augustine’s, Kilburn, London, 31 October & 1 November 2016 (Track 1 recorded June 2014)