Somei Satoh
Mantra; Stabat Mater
NA016
Satoh, voice and electronics; Jane Thorngren, soprano, and the Pro Arte Chorale conducted by George Manahan
[These] two beautiful vocal pieces by Japanese composer Satoh ... manage a minimalist elegance without sacrificing drama.
--Option
"Mantra" was composed in 1986 at the Japan Broadcasting Corporation's Electronic Music Studio at their request. The only instrument employed is my own voice, which was layered repeatedly during recording. The surprising outcome is a pleasant variety of sounds and melodies surfacing through veils of overtone, falling on the listener's ears like a gentle spring shower.
"Stabat Mater" was composed at the request of the Arts at St. Ann's in New York, between January and February 1987. Reading the Latin text of "Stabat Mater" for the first time, I was immediately struck by a vivid image of the pitifully emaciated body of a young African child dead from starvation, and the hollow, vacant eyes of the mother looking on helplessly. It seemed to me there could be no deeper or more painful grief than that of a mother who has lost a child. I saw no difference between this sorrow and that which Mary experiences at the foot of the cross. I was reading of universal grief, of children lost to war, starvation, illness and sudden accident. "Stabat Mater," then, is dedicated to women everywhere who have suffered such loss.
It is certainly interesting to discover this aspect of new Japanese music, especially via performances as sensitve, well prepared and well recorded as these.
--Gramophone
Track List
1. Mantra 22:53
2. Stabat Mater 33:29
Total: 56:41
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