© Marco Parollo
On the occasion of the transformation of the Musical Institute “Verdi” into Conservatoire
Coro & Ensemble 1685
del Conservatorio Statale Giuseppe Verdi di Ravenna
Antonio Greco conductor
Antonio Caldara
Stabat Mater
Johann Sebastian Bach
Mass in G minor BWV 235
Born just 15 years before Bach, the Venetian Antonio Caldara did not achieve similar fame, but he was well received at home and abroad. He moved first to Mantua, then to Rome, Spain and finally to Vienna, where he was appointed vice-Kapellmeister at the imperial court and where his remains are kept in St Stephen’s Cathedral. It was in Vienna that he composed this Stabat Mater (1725), a large fresco in which the choir and soloists dialogue in a very special orchestral colour, supported by two obbligato trombones and strings. Bach’s Mass in G Minor BWV 235, on the other hand, is one of four short ‘Lutheran’ masses, consisting of only a Kyrie and a Gloria, written about a decade later.
