Spirit Strength and Sorrow is the fascinating result of The Sixteen’s third major collaboration with the Genesis Foundation and features three new works by contemporary composers, all settings of the Stabat Mater text: Alissa Firsova, Tõnu Kõrvits and Matthew Martin. The Stabat Mater is, in conductor Harry Christophers’ view, without doubt the most powerful poem of the liturgy and one which has inspired composers through the ages. The three young composers featured on this disc represent different backgrounds and cultures: Alissa Firsova, with her intricate harmonic language drawing on her roots in Russian Orthodoxy; Tõnu Kõrvits, inspired by the scales and intonations from the folklore of a south-eastern region of his homeland Estonia; and Matthew Martin, whose detailed composition harks back to previous traditions surrounding Stabat Mater.
