Customer Reviews

Vivaldi: Sacred Music, Vol. 2

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased this recording shortly after the movie Shine was released because I was newly enchanted with Vivaldi's sacred music. It provides an excellent sampling of his motets and will appeal to those looking or some of the excellent, yet lesser known, works of this master.

Robert King and his King's Consort provide an excellent accompaniment to Deborah York and her colleagues. James Bowman has worked with King before and he is quite a good counter-tenor. The alto, Catherine Denley, is good, but Ms. York is simply divine.

There is an ornament in the Alleluia movement of the Nulla in Mundo Pax Sincera that causes me to pause every time I hear it. One might purchase this recording merely to hear that phrase.

In his time, Vivaldi was widely respected, both for the beauty of his music and the speed of his writing. He wrote some 400 concertos; he said --- accurately --- that he could compose faster than a copyist could scribble the notes. Bach went to school on him. He was continuously employed.

But Vivaldi died poor. And was soon forgotten. It wasn't until the mid-1920s --- when a researcher encountered a collection of his lost manuscripts and powerhouses like Ezra Pound proclaimed Vivaldi's excellence --- that his music began to be widely played. And then, at some point in the 1970s or 1980s, hotels and restaurants discovered "The Four Seasons," and after that, you couldn't get away from Vivaldi. He became, sadly, as corny as Pachelbel.

Stravinsky mocked Vivaldi's concertos --- the same piece, he said, written 400 times. But no one mocks the choral music. It has balance and thrust and personality; it's never less than pleasant.

Vivaldi wrote most of his choral music for women. With good reason --- for 35 years, he was in the employ of La Pieta, a home for Venetian foundlings. Don't get all weepy about those poor little girls; this isn't "Annie." Remember that we are talking about Venice, one of the richest cities in the world. And remember, too, that we are dealing with upper-class morality --- most of the girls at the Ospedale della Pietà weren't orphans, but the illegitimate daughters of married noblemen and their mistresses. The quarters were luxurious; musical standards were high.

As were the notes. Vivaldi had only female voices to work with, and he showed them off. Bass parts were taken up an octave; sopranos were pitched to the heavens. Excess is stripped away. Vivaldi takes traditional themes --- he'd been trained as a priest --- and weaves them into beauty.

There are ten CDs of this music recorded by Robert King and the King's Consort. I've heard maybe half of them, and can't find a weak moment anywhere. But why push Volume 2 on you? Because Volume 1 is big music, more in the style of the Vivaldi you know. Volume 2 has more soloists, more subtle thrills. But be careful --- King's recordings of this music are definitive. And addictive. If you're not careful, you'll not only want them all, you'll start thinking seriously about a trip to Venice.

The drawcard in this recording is the fine set of soloists - Deborah York, Catherine Denley and James Bowman. All do an outstanding job and York is especially gorgeous in the Nulla in mundo, a fine update to Kirkby, and arguably somewhat cleaner. All the works are attractive for those who enjoy Baroque vocal works and the recording quality and orchestral playing are first-class.

After reading the two other reviews, I feel like a heel giving this recording but four (4) stars, but I listened to this several times, and compared to my favorites by Bach (going forward) and by Renaissance composers (going backward), and even compared to some of Vivaldi's other sacred works, such as the Stabat Mater, I find these pieces good, but not outstanding. I would not make a point of coming back to these works, whoever excellently performed and recorded. In the great scheme of things, they don't excite me. Check out Andreas Scholl's performance of the Stabat Mater on harmonia mundi France!