Orchestra, soprano and mezzo soprano

Note from the composer (from the booklet):
When I wrote Stabat Mater Dolorosa a decade ago. I was fascinated by empirical studies that suggest we experience an extreme slowing down of time at the moment of (near-)death (a car suspended in the air during a violent crash, or a slip down a steep rock face) creating a sense of eternal present. I decided to transfer this concept of temporal hypermagnification to music, using a time-stretched version of the first movement of Pergolesi's 1736 Stabat Mater as a point of departure.
While the Stabat Mater text focuses on the Virgin Mary's grief over Jesus' death, my piece sheds the Christian framework adapting the text to contemplate maternal grief more generally. I nevertheless hope to retain -or steel- much of what a religious meditation can offer its devotees: unencumbered time to reflect, a sense of spirituality, perhaps even a brush with transcendence.

The text, based on the original Stabat Mater text, focuses on maternal grief about the loss of a daughter:
Stabat Mater dolorosa iuxta filiam lacrimosa
O quam tristis fuit illa O quam afflicta praecordia
Cuius animan gementem pertransivit gladius
Qui non posset contristari piam matrem contemplari dolentem cum filia?
Quis est homo qui non fleret matrem si videret in tanto dolore
Cuius animan gementem cruciatam et dolentem pertransivit gladius.
Translation:
The grieving mother stood weeping by her daughter
Oh how sad she was, oh how afflicted her heart
Through her weeping soul a sword passed
Who would not have compassion on beholding this loving mother suffering with her daughter?
Who would not cry upon seeing this mother in such agony?
Through her weeping soul, tormented and grieving, a sword passed.

No colour bar as the composer has used an adapted text.