Monteverdi - Vespers of 1610 (Vespro della Beata Vergine) / Chandler, R. Croft, Atkinson, Numura, Boston Baroque, Pearlman (B000003D2F) - Reviews and Prices

Editorial Review:

This performance of Monteverdi's extraordinary collection of sacred music, which received a 1999 Grammy nomination, has its good points, but it can't really be considered best even in its class. Martin Pearlman leads a relatively large-scale performance, using a 30-member chorus (often doubled by instruments) throughout; he adds some plainchant before the Psalms; he takes the Lauda Jerusalem and Magnificat at high pitch. The instrumentalists play their difficult parts quite creditably, and Pearlman takes some exciting tempos. Unfortunately, his chorus can't always keep up with him: they often sound muddy and, in fast passages, sometimes downright sloppy. The soprano soloists sing attractively but with wider vibratos than ideal for this music; the tenors, however, are very good indeed, with Richard Croft's heartfelt, sensitively embellished, beautifully modulated singing deserving an award for Best Performance of Monteverdi by a Mainstream Opera Singer. If you want a full-scale choral performance, though, you'll do better with that of René Jacobs or William Christie, and Andrew Parrott's reconstruction of a Vespers service (done mostly one-singer-per-part) is not to be missed. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

Superlative! The Human Voice is a Beautiful Instrument:

If anyone has ever doubted the male human voice as being an outstanding instrument, listen to track #10:
VII. Motet: Duo Seraphim - Christopheren Nomura
It does not get much better than that.
Highly recommended, this has gone quickly to the top of my Sacred Choral CD Collection.

A good version:

Will someone please shoot Matthew Westphal and put us all out of our misery? We have to endure his claptrap on this piece constantly. OK, so he loves the museum-piece-vaguely-resuscitated Parrott version. Fine, but I for one am fed up hearing it used to poo-pooh better versions - such as this one. It's not the best - that honour for me belongs to Gardiner in the fabulous "live" version in San Marco, followed by Suzuki with the Bach Collegium Japan, but this is definitely up in the second division. It has... more info

Croft's Orphee:

To Ricardo (below), Croft's Orphee (Gluck) is scheduled to be released May 11, 2004 by Archiv.

Mary must be pretty pleased:

I only recently discovered the work of Pearlman and the Boston Baroque through their Messiah which is absolutely stunning. So, I was eager to pick this piece up, especially after listening to the brief audio clips on the site.

I have a bit of early music (des Pres, Tallis, some madrigals and the like) and a lot more baroque. What I really like about the Vespers is that they demonstrate the evolution from early to baroque quite clearly. You get both the sense of chant - and maybe madrigal forms with some... more info

Tracks:

1. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 1. Deus in adjutorium / Domine ad adjuvandum
2. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Antiphon to Psalm 109
3. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 2. Psalm 109. Dixit Dominus
4. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 3. Motet. Nigra sum
5. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Antiphon to Psalm 112
6. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 4. Psalm 112. Laudate pueri
7. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 5. Motet. Pulchra es
8. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Antiphon to Psalm 121
9. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 6. Psalm 121. Laetatus sum
10. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 7. Motet. Duo Seraphim
11. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Antiphon to Psalm 126
12. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 8. Psalm 126. Nisi Dominus
13. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 9. Motet. Audi coelum
14. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: Antiphon to Psalm 147
15. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 10. Psalm 147. Lauda Jerusalem
16. Vespro della beata vergine, for chorus & instruments, SV 206: No. 11. Sonata sopra 'Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis'

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