Dvorak: Stabat Mater – Jiri Belohlávek

   in Choir & Organ (Sep, 2017)
Jirí Belohlávek died earlier this year and this must be among his last recordings. Certainly the booklet photographs of him conducting the work in 2016 show how much the ravages of illness had taken their toll. The music-making on this CD, however, is as fresh and inspired as ever with this conductor, whose familiarity with Dvorák’s grand setting of the Stabat Mater dates right back to his days as a boy treble in Prague. He has recorded it twice before, but this most recent account is the most satisfying. Belohlávek generally favours broader tempi than his young self or other recent conductors in this marvellous piece – hence his recording spills …