Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine. (Choral and Song).(Sound Recording Review)

[] Galli, Fernandez; Oro, Schofrin, Cecchetti, Del Pozo, Pollitzer, Garrigosa, Zanasi, Carnovich, Garcia; Ensemble Elyma, Garrido. Latin and French text only K617 136/2 (Qualiton, dist.)

No conductor can approach Monteverdi's great Vespers of 1610 without being a card-carrying musicologist, or at least having one nearby. It's not clear whether the piece was ever performed in its entirety, or whether that was even the composer's intention. The lavish writing, in a plethora of compositional styles, and the difficulty of sorting out a proper liturgical sequence have led some scholars to view this work as a musical anthology specifically designed for publication and later used as an audition piece for the job as maestro di cappella at St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice.

Whatever its purpose for Monteverdi, the work is endlessly fascinating as a concert piece and, with some additions, a two-CD set. Early-seventeenth-century pictures, payrolls and press releases provide some clues regarding pitch, instrumentation and distribution of voice parts, and ever since the work was more or less rediscovered in the early 1960s, conductors have taken a variety of approaches. Gabriel Garrido presents a welcome change from versions by the usual British suspects with his sensuous, Mediterranean feel for the drama in the score. He underlines lyricism rather than rhythmic drive, the devotional rather than the ceremonial ...