Concert by Various, Sib 27 Nov 2010, Minn (2010/2010), Immexxi minn Elisabeth Mahler, Surmast Direttur Bertrand de Billy, Frauenkirche, Dresden, Germany

When Anna Netrebko sings one of the most beautiful sacred works of the 18th century, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's "Stabat mater", it was the highlight of the "Pergolesi year" for many music lovers. Her performance together with the alto Marianna Pizzolato and with Bertrand de Billy at the helm of the Sächsische Staatskapelle in the exuberantly baroque Dresden Frauenkirche radiates "nothing less than beguiling depth and beauty" (Morgenpost). At the latest in the duet "Paradisi Gloria", in which their voices melt together in heavenly unison, the viewer is carried away into a wondrous realm of sweet sonority and moving harmonies. The "Stabat mater" is considered to be Pergolesi's last and most famous composition. Pergolesi, who was born in 1710 and died prematurely in 1736 at the age of 26, wrote several operas; his "Stabat mater" combines the dramatic flair of Neapolitan opera with the grace and lightness of the "galant" style that was emerging at the time. In addition to Pergolesi, an excerpt from Joseph Haydn's "Seven Last Words of the Redeemer on the Cross" and Johann Sebastian Bach's "Have mercy" can be heard.