Search - Rinaldo Alessandrini, Concerto Italiano :: Monteverdi: Musica Sacra /Concerto Italiano * Alessandrini

This disc isn't just a treat in itself, it's a delicious foretaste of what to expect when Concerto Italiano records the Vespro della Beata Vergine. (Literally: included is a 1615 arrangement, without the instrumental ritornellos, of the 1610 Vespers' "Dixit Dominus.") Rinaldo Alessandrini has assembled little-known Psalm-settings (in both the older contrapuntal and the newer concertante styles) and chant antiphons into a Vespers service; he finishes the disc with eight motets for one to six voices and continuo. The singers perform exquisitely, with finely-judged tempo changes, forcefulness, tenderness, and tonal beauty. The only criticism is that the stile antico pieces are too fast for the counterpoint to be clearly heard. Still, this is an extraordinary disc--when these musicians do the Vespers of 1610, it'll be stunning. --Matthew Westphal