Cecilian Vespers [Hybrid SACD - DSD, Import]

Slattery (Performer), Davies (Performer), A. Scarlatti (Composer), Mcgegan (Performer), Labelle (Performer), Ryden (Performer), Angel (Performer), Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Slattery, Davies, Mcgegan, Labelle, Ryden, et al.
• Composer: A. Scarlatti
• Audio CD (January 11, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Hybrid SACD - DSD, Import
• Label: Avie
• ASIN: B0006BAUIA
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,347 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fifty Six Vespers Honoring the Patron of Music: St. Cecilia, April 2, 2006

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cecilian Vespers (Audio CD)

For an absolutely enchanting experience this 2 CD set of all of the vespers composed by Alessandro Scarlatti honoring the essence of music - St. Cecilia - is inimitable. Here is more Scarlatti than you ever knew was available and in the entire 56 works there is not a weak link.

Nicholas McGegan conducts the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale with a bevy of superb soloists - Susanne Ryden, Dominique Labelle, Michael Slattery who makes a very impressive debut - a tenor with style and flair whose career is young but very promising, Ryland Angel, Gonzalo X. Ruiz and Neal Davis - in lilting and dramatic performances, each one fresh and inventive, and each one performed with McGegan's usual penchant for understanding period music.

The recorded sound is superb: the first CD was recorded during a live performance and the second CD is a studio production. But the sonics of both are superb. This is music to transport us to another era and reinforces the fact that Scarlatti was a brilliant, forward-looking composer. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, April 06

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Glorious celebration of the patron saint of music, February 2, 2005

By 

Trollope - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cecilian Vespers (Audio CD)

A. Scarlatti's vespers for St Cecilia's Day are given a wonderfully alert live performance by Nic McGegan and the Philharmonia Barqoue. Nic's specialization in Scarlatti's dramatic choral works pays off brilliantly here with some superb contributions from the soloists including the stellar soprano Dominique Labbelle

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great recording of an underestimated composer, November 22, 2007

By 

Eric Falardeau (Montreal, Quebec Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cecilian Vespers (Audio CD)

Interpretation and sound are superb and give justice to these masterpieces of a great composer far too often neglected! As always with Scarlatti, one wonders at the modernity of his sacred music (it sounds like Mozart as a young adult) and his cunning use of the instruments to create a tapestry of textures that tells the untold tale behind the words and the singers.