I had never heard of Bruce Cockburn till Bob Cox sent me an e-mail about his last album Bone on Bone. From Wikipedia I learned Bruce Cockburn is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics that reveal a passion for human rights, environmental issues, politics, and spirituality. Cockburn has written more than 300 songs on thirty albums over a career spanning 40 years. He has sold nearly one million albums in Canada alone.
The album Bone on Bone  has a song titled Stab at Matter. I listened to this song several times and analyzed the text. Is Stab at Matter a parody on Mary near the cross?  A wordplay on the ancient Latin hymn? Or a modern interpretation of the 13th-century hymn Stabat Mater? I think it is intended as a spiritual song, regardless I like it. Please, judge for yourself!

you got lamentation
you got dislocation
sirens wailing and the walls come down

you got revelation
you got felt relation
door creaks open and the trumpet sounds

we’re taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
set the spirit free

we’re taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
set the spirit free

you got incantation
you got quantum vibration
temple trembles as the Lord draws nigh

you got transformation
thunder shaking
seal is broken and the spirit flies

we’re taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
set the spirit free

we’re taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
taking a stab at matter
set the spirit free

I just added two CD’s to my collection: Yerevan Women’s Choir of Armenia, singing, among others, the Stabat Mater by David Haladjian, a composer from Armenia. His Stabat Mater is a requiem for the victims of the earthquake which struck Armenia in December 1988. The work was composed for the Yerevan Women’s Choir and was first performed in January 1990 in Leninakan, now Gumayri. I received this CD as a present from Mr. Maillard from Switzerland. Thanks!

Another very special new addition is James MacMillans Stabat Mater. This Stabat Mater will be performed in Oirschot, the Netherlands on March 17th and 18th 2018. I am looking forward to this concert weekend! More information: www.stabatmater.nl .

Recently I got a mail from Paola Battoni,  a chorister of Coro femminile da Camera Francis Poulenc, a ladies choir.  She informed me that her conductor, Mr Roberto Braglia Orlandini is also a composer and he has composed a moving stabat Mater they have performed several times. She wrote to me:

Here are the information you have required about Roberto Braglia Orlandini’s Stabat Mater. It was composed in April 2014 after a long period of meditation.. It’s a composition for ladies choir, soprano solo and piano. The inspiring idea was that of giving the composition a timeless mark, a kind of spiritual alter ego not merely or simply religious, but a sort of spirituality much closer to man than to God. The lyrics are of course the original ones by Jacopone da Todi. The main idea which has motivated the composition also tends to convey and express the grief of a FATHER, as the composer is actually a father, and to a lesser degree it wants to be a way to come to terms with the senseless death through music. Grief stops life…we see that everyday in our personal experiences as well as in the experiences of anybody else around us. Life is frantic. When a tragic event happens and touches us we feel mental and physical pain, we feel powerless….it occurs to wonder whether this continuous and ceaseless running after things or people really helps us to consider and penetrate the mystery of existence….So, Stabat Mater dolorosa…is a way to stay inside grief and to live it and to share it while singing..
Unfortunately we don’t have a CD. Our women’s choir has performed this Stabat Mater several times. You can watch and listen to videos on Youtube or on our facebook page (Corale femminile da camera Francis Poulenc). Here is the link of one our most recent performances, held last April during the Eastertide season in the Basilica Palatina of Santa Barbara in Mantova in a concert dedicated to the passion of Christ called “Martyrium” 

Thank you very much Paola!

Mr. Alessandro Ravi informed me about a new Stabat Mater, composed and performed by Raffaele Serra. Raffaele was born in 1948 and lives in Milan. Composer and sound researcher, he released more than 30 albums. In the early 70’s he started to experiment with Electronic Music based on analogue synthesizers, tapes and other devices. He composed music for theatre, dance and multimedia works. Complete discography here.
Raffaele Serra’s Stabat Mater is a music-based multimedia work, built on the first nine stanzas and the last stanza of the Vatican version of the text. The work has three movements. Every movement has three stanzas, exposed two times, except the third one where the 20th stanzas has been added as final.
Details:
Voice: Hannelore Gerschke
Equipment: Roland System 700, Hammond organ, Pakrashi harmonium, Moog Vocoder, syncussion, tapes and electronics. 
From Cd “STABAT MATER” (Beata Beatrix 001 SE)
Recorded at “HSK Studio”, Bremen – Autumn 2016
Mixed and produced by Alessandro Ravi
Special thanks to Willem van Tilburg for his friendly advice.
Listen on YouTube to the complete work:

Thanks, Mr. Alessandro for sending me the CD! I just added a webpage about Raffaele Serra to my site.

I just listened to the Stabat Mater by Craig Bloomfield and I loved it very much.  I like the intensity of the singers, of the choir as well of the soprano. C. Alistair Bloomfield was born in 1977 and he is of Jamaican nationality. The Stabat Mater was, however, composed in 1998 in Athens, Georgia (USA) and premiered the following year in 1999.  His Stabat was composed after the death of his mother and it was dedicated to her. Unfortunately there is no CD recording. Since 2000 Craigs Stabat is listed on the page Missing CDs. A few months ago I was in contact with him again and he let me know his Stabat Mater can be downloaded on Dropbox. I was very happy with his mail:

…I remember being contacted by Hans many years ago, indeed. I was so delighted to be listed.  It is very difficult for classical composers, regardless of merit, to get any real acknowledgement or performance opportunities due to the culture and nature of vocal performance today. Most works that are premiered must be self-financed, are commissioned, are performed by an ensemble created by the composer OR are a part of an academic execise (completion of a degree, for example).
As I fit into NONE of the above, I have rarely attempted to have my works performed (though I now have quite a few copyrighted and filed away.:)). This is why Hans’ work was so vital – not only to the Stabat Mater tradition, but also to the remembrance of composers everywhere. There is no worse thing for an artist than being forgotten. :(.
I do still compose. I had a premiere in April of this year (Super Flumina Babylonis – womens’ 6-voiced motet) and have three new works I am also hoping to have performed in the coming months.
I don’t have a professional recording, but you can download the recording from the DropBox link below. The performance wasn’t perfect. I had to create an ensemble of mostly amateur singers just to have the work premiered, but I am glad I did. 🙂
https://www.dropbox.com/s/twrgg3daqxkjs6m/01%20Stabat%20Mater.wma?dl=0
My deepest condolences, albeit it late, for your loss. He was a visionary in his own right and we composers of the Stabat Mater shall forever be in his debt…