Pergolesi: Mass In D Major, Mottetto “Dignas laudes resonemus”

   in Classical Music (Jul, 2018)
This CD presents world premiere recordings of two works by Pergolesi which date towards the end of the composer’s short life (he died in 1736, aged 26), when he turned his attention to writing sacred music. While his Stabat Mater et Magnificat are relatively well-known, there are other sacred works which, if this CD is anything to go by, are equally fine and deserve hearing. The Mass in D major is limited to the Kyrie and Gloria, as was the practice in the Kingdom of Naples in the 1730s. Structured into a sequence of set pieces, as so many composers would do later in the 18th century, Pergolesi’s Mass is …