Review Text
With the world premiere recording of a rediscovered Stabat Mater, a late work by the Bohemian master František Tuma, Pluto-Ensemble and Hathor Consort expand the Baroque discography with an emotionally gripping work. The version presented here, one of Tuma's five settings of the text, long lay forgotten in the Abbey library in Ottobeuren, until Marnix de Cat (artistic director of the Pluto-Ensemble) rediscovered this gem. It is heard here with the Requiem in F minor by H. I. F. Biber and instrumental works by Biber, his teacher J. H. Schmelzer and his Salzburg colleague A. C. Clamer. Animam gementem cano ('I hymn the grieving soul' - the first two words quote the Stabat Mater text) takes us on a journey through many of life's most significant moments: we are confronted with life and death, but also with our personal path towards consciousness. The programme is intended not only to provide comfort for the 'captive grieving soul' of every flesh-and-blood human being, but also to offer every curious music lover a voyage of discovery.
