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Pitié! album cover

Album guide

Pitié!

Fabrizio Cassol

Composer
J.S. Bach
Released
2008
Label
Cypres
Forces
Vocal, Saxophone
Personnel
Fabrizio Cassol alto saxophone, with Aka Moon’s Michel Hatzigeorgiou electric bass and Stéphane Galland drums; singers Laura Claycomb, Melissa Givens, Cristina Zavalloni, Monica Brett-Crowther, Serge Kakudji and Magic Malik

Pitié! began as the score for Alain Platel’s dance production rather than as a stand-alone Bach tribute. Fabrizio Cassol used the St Matthew Passion to tell a new story centred on a mother facing the sacrifice of her children, with the role of Christ divided between two closely matched voices.

Cassol’s trio Aka Moon anchors an ensemble of singers, winds, strings and accordion. His treatment changes with the needs of each scene: Können Tränen meiner Wangen is stripped almost bare, while Erbarme dich is made deliberately more lavish. The recording preserves a score shaped as much by voices and bodies on stage as by Bach’s original Passion.

Hear both

The classical side contains only the source pieces used on the album, in album order. The jazz side presents the complete album whenever a dependable copy can be embedded.

The originalsJ.S. Bach · classical source works

The classical player has twenty-one videos for twenty-two tracks because one recording of Können Tränen meiner Wangen, BWV 244 No. 52, serves both “Tränen” at track 17 and “Können Tränen” at track 18.

Jazzed upFabrizio Cassol · 2008
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Source works

The album’s complete track listing, with each classical source identified and original compositions marked plainly.

  1. PreludeBWV 244 No. 1, opening chorus ’Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen’
  2. Du lieber HeilandBWV 244 No. 5, recitative ’Du lieber Heiland du’ (issued title quotes its text)
  3. Buss und ReuBWV 244 No. 6, aria ’Buß und Reu’
  4. Blute nurBWV 244 No. 8, aria ’Blute nur, du liebes Herz’
  5. Bin ich’sBWV 244 No. 9e, chorus ’Herr, bin ich’s?’ (the title’s word order quotes 9e, not the chorale No. 10 ’Ich bin’s, ich sollte büßen’)
  6. Wiewohl mein HerzBWV 244 No. 12, recitative ’Wiewohl mein Herz in Tränen schwimmt’
  7. Ich will dir mein Herze schenkenBWV 244 No. 13, aria
  8. O SchmerzBWV 244 No. 19, recitative with chorale ’O Schmerz! hier zittert das gequälte Herz’
  9. Der Heiland fälltBWV 244 No. 22, recitative ’Der Heiland fällt vor seinem Vater nieder’
  10. Gerne wil ich michBWV 244 No. 23, aria ’Gerne will ich mich bequemen’
  11. So ist mein JesusBWV 244 No. 27a, duet ’So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen’
  12. SturmBWV 244 No. 27b, chorus ’Sind Blitze, sind Donner in Wolken verschwunden?’
  13. Ach nun ist mein JesusBWV 244 No. 30, aria with chorus ’Ach! nun ist mein Jesus hin!’
  14. O MenschBWV 244 No. 29, chorale fantasia ’O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß’
  15. Erbarme dichBWV 244 No. 39, aria ’Erbarme dich, mein Gott’
  16. Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterbenBWV 244 No. 49, aria
  17. TränenBWV 244 No. 52, aria ’Können Tränen meiner Wangen’
  18. Können TränenBWV 244 No. 52, aria ’Können Tränen meiner Wangen’
  19. Ja! freilichBWV 244 No. 56, recitative ’Ja! freilich will in uns das Fleisch und Blut’
  20. EliBWV 244 No. 61a, recitative ’Und von der sechsten Stunde an’ containing Jesus’s ’Eli, Eli, lama asabthani’
  21. Mache dich, mein Herze, reinBWV 244 No. 65, aria
  22. FinaleBWV 244 No. 68, final chorus ’Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder’