Monteverdi: Vespro della beata vergine
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Composer: Claudio MonteverdiComposer: Heinrich Scheidemann
Performer: Alexander Schneider
Performer: Concerto Palatino
Performer: Tragicomedia
Performer: Leo Van Doeselaar
Performer: Barbara Borden
Performer: Suzie LeBlanc
Performer: Julian Podger
Performer: John Potter
Performer: Rodrigo del Pozo
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-05-27
Music Label: Atma Classique
Music reviews of Monteverdi: Vespro della beata vergine
Music Review: Yes! This One Gets It Right!
Rating: 5 Stars
Tragicomedia's 2-CD recording of the sublime Vespro isn't one of the top ten sellers, but it's as good as any and way better than most. The standard of comparison has to be the best-seller performance by Andrew Parrott; to my ears, Tragicomedia exceeds in every movements of the Vespers except the tenor trio Duo Seraphim, which is a toss-up. The only thing that still recommends the Parrott recording is the participation of Emma Kirkby, whose voice is so caressingly beautiful that I forget the bland context.
Right away, in the Domine ad Adiuvandum, conductor Steven Stubbs shows his brilliance in the clarity of the many rhythmic prolations (changes of count), precise and emphatic articulations, and acclamatory affect. This is truly music of exaltation! That spirit continues throughout. This is a performance in which the details are etched and polished.
Right away, one hears also that the instrumental forces are superb. The cornetti, of course, who else?, are Bruce Dickey and Doron Sherwin, together with the rest of Concerto Palatino. But the surprise is the musicianship of the strings of Tragicomedia. Violinists Milos Valent and Peter Spissky deliver the crisp, forward kind of fiddling that matches the cornetti phrase for phrase. The lower instruments - gamba, violone - have character for a change, and the plucked strings of the continuo are agile participants in the dialogue. Stubbs himself is a fine lutenist, and here he's joined by Paul O'Dette on chitarrone, the ruling deity of that instrument. A last critical component of this Monteverdi orchestra is the organ, played very sturdily by Detlef Bratschke. The organ itself is a special instrument, the Van Hagerbeer organ, recently restored to its 1691 voicing and tuning. The pitch of this performance, by the way, is A465 - 'cornetto' pitch - allowing a brighter, more joyful timbre throughout.
All the vocal soloists are up to the task of sounding as secure and incisive as the instruments. In other words, this is a performance of excellent balance and distribution. The big margin of superiority, to my ears, comes from the lower male voices - three bass-baritones - who have the sprightly timbres of tenors, the sprezzatura, while also having the substance in their lowest notes to give the vocal ensemble plenty of 'bottom.' This becomes evident especially in the concluding Magnificat, where they deliver the majesty for which all the delicate and playful previous antiphons have been preparing us. The Magnificat, by the way, is performed, following the 'chiavetti' designation in the original manuscripts, in a downward transposition, which makes the fullness of the male voices even more critical.
I'm listening to the Audi Coelum as I write. What control of rhythms! The triple-rhythm ritornello-like sections so lively, and then the sweet solemnity of the duples! That's conducting! And then! Lauda! Praise! Praise Jerusalem! Yes! That's exaltation!
The eight-to eleven part polyphony of the five Psalmus movements is exactly right, in that each voice sings forth and forward independently, and yet all voices blend in cadence chords. This is, if you haven't realized, entirely a one-on-a-part performance. No performance by a larger choir has a chance achieving such clarity of detail.
The climax of the Vespers, for intrumentalists, is always the Sonata sopra Sancta Maria, a tour de force of rhythmic progressions (prolations again) and counterrhythms. Bruce and Doron are the cornettists in many of the recordings by various ensembles; this time they are supernaturally graceful and decorous, and the paired violins catch their inflections and toss them back just as gracefully.
How much more can I laud this performance? I might mention that the price is attractive. There are a couple of other recordings of exceptional quality, but none better.
Description of Monteverdi: Vespro della beata vergine
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