Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610

John Shirley-Quirk (Performer), Claudio Monteverdi (Composer), Giovanni Gabrieli (Composer), Giovanni Battista Bassani (Composer), Giovanni Bassano (Composer), John Eliot Gardiner (Conductor), James Bowman (Performer), Charles Brett (Performer), John Angelo Messana (Performer), The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (Performer), Philip Jones Wind Ensemble (Performer), David Monrow Recorder Ensemble (Performer), Nicholas Kraemer (Performer), Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra (Orchestra), Monteverdi Orchestra (Orchestra), Malcolm Hicks (Performer), Alastair Ross (Performer), Jill Gomez (Performer), Felicity Palmer (Performer), Robert Tear (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: John Shirley-Quirk, James Bowman, Charles Brett, John Angelo Messana, The Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, et al.
• Orchestra: Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Monteverdi Orchestra
• Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner
• Composer: Claudio Monteverdi, Giovanni Gabrieli, Giovanni Battista Bassani, Giovanni Bassano
• Audio CD (October 11, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B000004247
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #108,065 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bargain, December 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 (Audio CD)

I'd give it one more than my Texan friend above, but not five purely because I think that Gardiner's later version for Archiv, recorded in San Marco, Venice, knocks spots off every other version I've ever heard, and that's a lot. This is a modern instrument version, but it captures the magic of the work, a spectacular tour-de-force which bridges between the Renaissance and Baroque musical worlds. Its main glory is the choral singing which, with the blaze of Philip Jones's brass in the big numbers, is goosebump-raising. If you like your Vespers magnificent rather than devotional, this version is unmissable at this price.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars John Eliot Gardiner May Seem Omnipresent..., September 30, 2008

By 

Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 (Audio CD)

... but he's not omnipotent or infallible. And even in 1974, when this performance was recorded, he had the resources to do better. This is easily the worst, most over-conducted, most misinterpreted recording of the Vespro della Beata Vergine ever offered to the public by any conductor with "historical performance" credibility. If it were the first Gardiner I'd ever heard, I assure you I'd never give the man a second chance.

What's so bad about it? As I said, it's bizarrely over-conducted, with arbitrary and inconsequential changes of tempo and dynamic whenever John Eliot's baton twitched. The chorus is rough and bellowy. The soloists -especially the outside voices, soprano and baritone - sound as if they're singing through a kazoo at times, or as if an 'ugly filter' had been placed over their microphones. The sopranos and tenors have gross tuning problems often enough to substantiate the critics of 'early music' who say we have insufficient training... and yet these singers, some of them at least, are fairly reputable opera stars. The orchestra is murky, loud, undependable in tuning, and not even authentic in instrumentation! If a large state university, or even a medium-sized Lutheran college in upper Minnesota, staged a performance of the Vespers, I'd expect a more musical event than this.

Besides, the recording quality is dreadful. John Eliot would do his reputation a favor by pulling this canine CD off the market. Do notice, please, that Gardiner issued another performance of the Vespers, with entirely different forces, in 1990; nothing I say in this review is pertinent to that performance.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Stay Away!, December 31, 2004

By 

Ryan Kouroukis "In 1882 Richard Wagner said: ... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 (Audio CD)

This recording only conveys the "loud drama" of Monteverdi's Vespers, which it is soley not. There is not one ounce of spirituality in this recording whatsoever! Not only that but, the recording is marked with blocky chunks which are heavily noticible (as cuts)...there is no sense of fluidity or flow at all. Also, there is no libretto included.

I wouldn't recommend this set of the Vespers to anyone starting out and wanting to understand them. I would recommend Gardiner's second recording in it's stead as it is imbued with spiritual elements.

I've heard that Andrew Parrot's version is the "one" to get, though I've not heard it yet.