This evening we drove down to the picturesque chateau of Lavaux St Anne for an evening of musical events set throughout the castle and its surroundings. The main draw of the evening was a performance of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, with the daughter, Pauline Claes, of a good friend singing the mezzo-soprano role. I am biaised, of course, but this talented lady is surely going places. The programme notes reminded me that this work is to Pergolesi, who died at the age of 26 having just completed it, as the Requiem is to Mozart (sort of – the Stabat, unlike the Requiem, was all the composer’s own work). Musically poignant and plaintive, it consists of twelve sequences, alternating passages for the choir, solos and duets. The chateau was a perfect setting.