How is it that, after more than 18 years, and well over 200 Classical Clips, I've never shared a piece by Dvořák? This is a good month to rectify this.

Dvořák suffered unspeakable tragedies in his life; in 1875 he and his wife lost their two-day old child, Josefa, and two years later they lost two other children within one month of each other. The grief such events wrought can only be imagined, but the artistic result was Dvořák's first large religious work, and the one which would bring him his first widespread fame, the strikingly moving Stabat Mater.

This month's clip is from the last movement of the work, the "Quando corpus morietur," imploring, "When my body shall die / Grant that my soul be given / The glory of Paradise." Fittingly, this recording was the very last recording made by the legendary Robert Shaw, about two months before his death in January 1999. As a bonus, the admirable recording includes an interesting interview with Shaw from soon after the Dvořák was recorded.