Restriction and reflection. Like every choir, the Zurich Chamber Singers have been particularly suffering since the beginning of the pandemic due to the restrictions and limitations imposed by hygiene regulations. Canceled concerts, canceled recordings, but then at the beginning of 2021 came along the possibility of recording with a small ensemble. Conductor and ensemble leader Christian Erny saw the opportunity and seized it: "The composition falls into a time when Scarlatti had a very good choir at his disposal. We assume that he thought that he could draw from the full. It's really 25 minutes of the highest intensity with ten solo voices cast, and it goes from the innermost sorrow, from the most intimate despair, to operatic drama that at times you feel the piece is exploding". And that with only ten voices.
Scarlatti's setting of the medieval funeral poem of Jesus' sorrowful mother standing in front of the cross of her own son displays the full range of emotions of the text. Scarlatti, who is more commonly known for his 555 Sonatas, exploits the vocal possibilities to the full, creating a dense web that the Zurich Chamber Singers never allow to become opaque. © Berlin Classics