I so rarely listen to music any more (only when something rises in my mind and won’t back off, like a Delhi hawker), I forget how certain harmonies can take hold of the heart and sometimes instantly, but always relentlessly, crush to a pulp one’s resistent to the raw emotions they wring out. I have no control whatsoever over that particular trigger. Take for example this piece of deliciousness from more than 30 years ago. Katia Ricciarelli and Lucia Valentini sing the Doloroso from Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater under the baton of the great Claudio Abbado and the orchestra of La Scala Milan. (If you have good speakers, turn them on now.) My eyes are still swimming…
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