Arjan van Baest (Stabat Mater Speciosa)
About the composer
Arjan van Baest (Tilburg, The Netherlands, 1969) is a composer. He is a conductor of the Dominicus Church in Amsterdam, artistic director / conductor of the Foundation Bachcantates Tilburg, Bach Choir and Orchestra, Cantiqua Concert and COMA Eindhoven (ensemble for contemporary music). He performed many works for choir and orchestra, including Mozarts Die Zauberflöte, Handels Messiah, Mozarts Requiem, Haydns Die Schöpfung and all of Bach’s great works. Van Baests compositions include ‘Factuur est recent’ for organ, saxophone quartet, double bass and percussion, ‘For God to God’ for soprano and choir on texts by Etty Hillesum and the theater works. ‘Mingo’ and ‘Lodewijk Napoleon in Brabant’. In 2017 the CD ‘Reading in bed’ was released, with eight cabaret songs.
Van Baest studied church organ and music theory with Henk de Croon. At Fontys University of the Arts in Tilburg he studied composition, choral conducting and orchestral conducting. Van Baest obtained his doctorate from the Faculty of Arts of Tilburg University with the thesis ‘A Semiotics of Opera’, a thesis about the meaning of signs and the process of giving meaning.
He is a reseacher at the Fontys University. Together with composer Evert van Merode he started the Foundation Music Now, a platform for the development and performance of new music.
About the Stabat Mater
| Date: | 2009 |
| Performers: | Mixed choir, harp |
| Length: | 4.29 minutes |
| Particulars: | In the Stabat Mater Speciosa-text Mary is not mourning at the cross but standing at the manger and rejoicing the newborn. But she is also worrying about Jesus' future. That's why the music is apparently kept modest in my opinion. |
| Textual variations: | Arjan van Baest has used the Stabat Mater Speciosa text, but only stanza 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, 19 and 20 |
| Colour bar: |
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Information about the recording
| CD: | Pro Luce – Choral Works, Stchting Muziek Nu |
| More info: | Recorded in Abdij Church of St. Benedictus Abbey, ‘Achelse Kluis’ Hamont Achel in Belgium on September 7th -8th 2013. Stichting Muziek Nu was founded by Evert van Merode en Arjan van Baest for the purpose of promoting contemporary music in a playful and imaginative way to the public. |
| Choir: | Projectkoor Stichting Nu |
| Conductor: | Arjan van Baest |
| Soloists: | Sabien Canton, harp |
| Other works: | Arjan van Baest: De Profundis, Illumina oculos meos, Perfice gressus meos, Ruht wohl |
| Code: | MERO-01 |
