Monteverdi: Vespers

June 2010

“...a fully Italian version at last (in 2004!), and one of the most imaginative for many a year...Alessandrini reveals his experience in madrigals...The consort singing is bold and focused, yet sensitive...a thrillingly full-blooded "Audi coelum" from baritone Pietro Spagnoli sends shivers down the spine.”

“This is as passionate and Italianate an account of this wonderful score as I have ever heard. Monteverdian nirvana”

2010

“Rinaldo Alessandrini has waited long before committing to disc his thoughts on Monteverdi's most famous sacred publication. On the issues that have divided modern performers he's unflappably pragmatic. In keeping with Concerto Italiano's general approach, the vocal lines in 'choral' pieces are taken by soloists who step out of the ensemble, on the grounds, he says in the notes, that 'We possess no sources attesting choral performance of this music.' He sticks to the published order, observing that no single liturgical event can account for the presence of every piece in the collection. Finally, he transposes the Lauda Jerusalem and the Magnificat on the grounds that failure to do so would entail enlarging the overall ensemble.
These are decisions that continue to divide scholars. Suffice it to say that a clear vision results which has the virtue of coherence, though it comes at the cost of dramatic effects that many continue to hold dear. But the notion that this work wasn't conceived on the grand scale in which some performers dress it up in no way diminishes the greatness of the music.
Other details of execution aren't quite so persuasive.
In some of the later psalms, rhythmic detail tends to get lost in the overall sound, lessening one's appreciation of Monteverdi's contrapuntal virtuosity, and giving a certain 'floaty' quality that can be distracting. Not for Alessandrini the pinpoint precision and analytical clarity of, say, the Monteverdi Choir. However, the instruments give wonderfully punchy accounts of the Sonata, and at times the sackbuts and continuo come wonderfully close to impersonating a percussion section.
Those with a fixed conception of the work may fail to be convinced. Put mischievously, there's something here to displease nearly everyone.
But there are many moments that will return you to the music more violently; and you have to take seriously what so distinguished a Monteverdian has to say.”