Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Domine ad adiuvandum
2. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Dixit Dominus
3. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Nigra sum
4. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Laudate pueri
5. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Pulchra es
6. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Laetatus sum
7. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Duo Seraphim
8. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Nisi Dominus
9. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Audi coelum
10. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Lauda Jerusalem

Disc 2:

1. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Sonata sopra Sancta Maria
2. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Ave maris stella
3. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Magnificat a 7
4. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Magnificat a 6

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12889 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-12
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .39 pounds

Amazon.com
John Eliot Gardiner's 1974 recording of Monteverdi's extraordinary Vespers of 1610 was a landmark, helping establish the modern reputations of both music and conductor. In 1989, to celebrate the silver anniversary of his Monteverdi Choir (named in honor of this work), he recorded the cycle again--this time live in the Basilica of San Marco in Venice. He made use of resources he didn't have 15 years earlier, like period instruments and, for soloists, a mix of early-music specialists (Ann Monoyios and Michael Chance) and opera singers (the young Bryn Terfel). As a bonus, he recorded both the standard version of the Magnificat for voices and instruments and Monteverdi's published alternative setting for six voices and organ. Gardiner gives a vigorous, theatrical, yet very detailed account of this music, caressing some phrases, thundering out others, using lots of carefully judged crescendos and decrescendos. On its terms, it works, thanks largely to the wondrous Monteverdi Choir, which can do anything asked of it. But there seems little of the sacred in the performance and almost nothing of the spontaneous or natural--the carefully calibrated effects can come across as overdetermined. In his booklet essay, Gardiner makes quite a point of his fidelity to the published score, yet he liberally adds instruments to double the voices, and he takes an odd liberty with the much-loved duet-trio "Duo seraphim": at the close of each half of the motet, at the words "plena est omnis terra," he has the tenors of his chorus take over from his soloists. If you're uncomfortable with that sort of thing, go for Andrew Parrott's marvelous one-singer-per-part performance or (for those who want a full chorus) for the version of William Christie or that of René Jacobs; if these additions don't faze you and you want a high-powered, adrenaline-rush performance, you'll find it here. --Matthew Westphal

Amazon.com
John Eliot Gardiner's 1974 recording of Monteverdi's extraordinary Vespers of 1610 was a landmark, helping establish the modern reputations of both music and conductor. In 1989, to celebrate the silver anniversary of his Monteverdi Choir (named in honor of this work), he recorded the cycle again--this time live in the Basilica of San Marco in Venice. He made use of resources he didn't have 15 years earlier, like period instruments and, for soloists, a mix of early-music specialists (Ann Monoyios and Michael Chance) and opera singers (the young Bryn Terfel). As a bonus, he recorded both the standard version of the Magnificat for voices and instruments and Monteverdi's published alternative setting for six voices and organ. Gardiner gives a vigorous, theatrical, yet very detailed account of this music, caressing some phrases, thundering out others, using lots of carefully judged crescendos and decrescendos. On its terms, it works, thanks largely to the wondrous Monteverdi Choir, which can do anything asked of it. But there seems little of the sacred in the performance and almost nothing of the spontaneous or natural--the carefully calibrated effects can come across as overdetermined. In his booklet essay, Gardiner makes quite a point of his fidelity to the published score, yet he liberally adds instruments to double the voices, and he takes an odd liberty with the much-loved duet-trio "Duo seraphim": at the close of each half of the motet, at the words "plena est omnis terra," he has the tenors of his chorus take over from his soloists. If you're uncomfortable with that sort of thing, go for Andrew Parrott's marvelous one-singer-per-part performance or (for those who want a full chorus) for the version of William Christie or that of René Jacobs; if these additions don't faze you and you want a high-powered, adrenaline-rush performance, you'll find it here. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews

Extraordinary
This is simply an extraordinary performance from both a documentary and aesthetic perspective.

Recorded at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, where Monteverdi was composer-in-residence from 1613, the sound quality is outstanding. I've heard so many choral performances recorded in Renaissance churches that sound lost and empty. The engineers have done something special here -- they have produced a disc that SOUNDs like what I imagine a performance of the Vespers would have sounded to Monteverdi's ears.

The performances themselves are about the best I have heard from the Monteverdis and the soloists. Not one voice sounds out of harmony or rhythm, and not one instrument sounds a false not. That is almost unheard of in a live recording.

I'm not sure that this is the definitive recording of this work, but I haven't heard many that have come close. Frankly, though the one-voice-per-part approach favoured by some HIP ensembles would be totally inappropriate. Venice wanted its music BIG and that's how Monteverdi wrote it.

Absolutely marvellous!
Monteverdi's Vespers is one of my favourite musical works and it constantly astounds me that something written nearly 500 years ago can reach out across the centuries and "grab" one. I have about 6 different versions. I must confess that I go for the "grand" interpretation, as opposed to the "devotional" interpretation (e.g., Parrott). Of all the "grand" versions I've heard, this reigns supreme. Gardiner has probably done more than any other conductor to bring this work into the central repertoire, to take its rightful place alongside the B Minor Mass and "Messiah", so it's not surprising. Recorded in St,Mark's Cathedral, Venice (one historical theory says that this is where it was performed) with a small band of singers and players, the feeling and committment of the ensemble really hits you. In particular, the totally appropriately-named Monteverdi choir sing brilliantly. A colossal achievement! Somebody's going to have to work darn hard to better it!

Outstanding performance
The Vespri conducted by Gardiner are - as usual in his case - absolutely outstanding. The quality of the soloists and the circumstance that the Monteverdi Choir keeps on using male voices for their alto and soprano lines make the CD a must for those of us who enjoy historical performances.

In my opinion, only comparable, and in some cases superior (the brass section is unbelievable), to the Savall recording.