Soprano, Soul singer, Reciter and orchestra

La Pieta is a kind of oratory in 6 parts, that starts in the first movement with a rather free Italian translation of the first stanzas of the Stabat Mater poem, but where the last part is the actual Stabat Mater Dolorosa. Most text in the piece is recited, and tells about two mothers who lost their sons, the son of the white mother in the city by an overdose of drugs, the baby of the black mother in Africa by lack of food. In the second and fourth movements the women sing their complaints, in the fifth movement a lullaby is sung. The music varies from harsh sounds to fine melodies, with a jazzy flavour, but always interesting to listen to. The Stabat Mater movement starts with a recited intro, after which the two voices sing the original Latin texts, several times interrupted by the narrator, reciting parts if the Italian translation. Use the link on the bottom of this page to listen to the intro of the fourth movement.

The texts by Cerami are poetic, but very pessimistic: God made the universe in such a way that man can find no trace of him. For the Latin texts the "Analecta"-version is followed, but stanzas 9, 10 and 13-17 are omitted, while stanza 1 is repeated after stanza 18.