Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with P.F. Thomèse, PRJCT Amsterdam, Maarten Engeltjes & Carolyn Sampson

Vivaldi's pieces sound like a kind of overture with fate and doom. That sets the tone for Pergolesi, who based the Stabat Mater text on a human tragedy rather than a glorification of the divine: 'the heartbroken mother stood weeping at the cross while her son hung there.' Shadow Child by PF Thomèse is precisely about the loss of a child - his own daughter. Thomèse recites a number of passages from his book.