Search - Claudio Monteverdi, Robert King, King's Consort :: Monteverdi: Vespers [Hybrid SACD]

A top flight version

Teemacs | Switzerland | 05/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a big fan of the Monteverdi Vespers. I have about 6 versions already, but I was intrigued by this one, knowing what a good job Robert King and Co. have done with other music. And I wasn't disappointed. I can't judge it on the SACD performace, only how it performs as a CD. The recording is crisp and clear and the performance very good. In addition, it is "my" kind of Vespers - full choir, no antiphons, no pulling it apart and reassembling it in some other order. You get all the music in Monteverdi's celebrated 1610 pamphlet, in effect a musical CV - the Magnificat in both 6- and 7-voice versions, plus the Mass that Monteverdi dedicated to the Pope, in the hope of landing a position in Rome (he didn't). I would rate this as the best "normally-recorded" version, better than Suzuki.



So, what do I mean by "normally-recorded". I use it to distinguish from That Other Version, Gardiner's fabulous "live" performance at San Marco, Venice. The Gardiner recording is less crisp, courtesy no doubt of the great spaces of San Marco. Gardiner also augments the instruments in some of the great choruses, such as the "Nisi Dominus", something that horrifies the traditionalists. So this is better than Gardiner? Well, no, actually. To me, there's just something about the Gardiner. Perhaps it's the uniqueness of the occasion, but it just has that extra excitement about it. That additional instrumentation is the sort of thing that one would imagine the Venetians loving, brought up, as they were, on the sonorities of the Gabrielis and their brass choirs. And the Monteverdis sing the music from which they take they name with tremendous committment. Nobody does the big choruses, "Nisi Dominus". "Lauda Jerusalem" better. They thrill me to the core.



So, while I welcome this excellent new version from Robert King, my heart still belongs to Gardiner."