Choral at Cadogan 26-27: The Sixteen + Britten Sinfonia – MacMillan Stabat Mater

An emotionally charged Eastertide sequence, culminating in a searingly direct and affecting work of our time – an instant 21st-century classic. Sir James MacMillan eloquently captures the intensity of Mary's sorrow at the death of her son, grief both personal and universal, recognisable to hundreds of thousands of parents in troubled times of migration and war. It conveys dense despair but also, exquisitely, lets the light in. It is complemented by the austere purity of Palestrina's 16th-century setting for double choir, and by Shostakovich, who pours his own sorrows into a plangent adaptation of his String Quartet No. 8 for string orchestra, written after witnessing the wartime destruction and rebirth of Dresden.

Programme: Palestrina – Stabat Mater; Shostakovich – Chamber Symphony, Op. 110a; Sir James MacMillan – Stabat Mater

Performers: The Sixteen; Britten Sinfonia; Harry Christophers (conductor)