Claudio Monteverdi - Vespers of 1610 (Harry Christophers) [CD 1]

01 - Deus in adiutorium meum intende
02 - Dixit Dominus
03 - Nigra sum
04 - Laudate pueri
05 - Pulchra es
06 - Laetatus sum
07 - Duo Seraphim
08 - Nisi Dominus
09 - Audi coelum
10 - Lauda Jerusalem (High)
11 - Sonata sopra Santa Maria
12 - Ave maris stella

Scans & Booklet: [ Ссылка ]

Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 is quite simply one of the greatest works of sacred music ever written and without doubt the most varied and inspired before Handel and Bach began composing their oratorios and passions. Where it was written, why it was written and who it was written for are actually immaterial – suffice it to say it was quite simply his calling card
for the big job, Choirmaster at the resplendent Basilica of St Mark in Venice. Its variety alone makes it unique – thrilling psalm settings with virtuosic writing for both multi-part choir and instrumentalists to exotic and sensual settings of texts fromthe Song of Songs for solo voices. Every movement is full of luscious harmonies, dramaand an evocative musical language which is so beautifully constructed for all concerned. Monteverdi’s music is virtuosic; he stretches every singer’s versatility to the limit, yet his demands have an exhilarating effect. His dictum is simple: recitarcantando (speak throughsinging) and this allows us the most amazing licence. As a result, time relationships do notbecome mechanical. They are intuitively felt, thus giving us the freedom to be expressiveand interpret the words, just as any great actor recites Shakespeare. A set of words, often repeated many times, can have different inflections, a different gesture each time. But it isn’t just the singers who are stretched; his writing for the solo strings, cornets and
sackbuts is both ceremonial and celestial, full of rhythmic vitality and, in true baroque fashion, the continuo section (in our case of organ, harp and chittarone) can luxuriate in Monteverdi’s harmonic language: the variety of textures and sonorities they achieve are quite extraordinary. For those of you who are interested in pitch and temperament, we used pitch 440’ with a temperament of 5th comma meantone. This means when you tune a circle of thirds absolutely pure and beatless, the note you end with is not the same as the note you started with. The difference is sufficient to make you wince and is called a ‘comma’. The comma needs to be hidden amongst keys that this music almost never visits, so you are left to enjoy pure intervals whilst the ‘rogues’ get lost in the surrounding woodwork. Or in simpler terms, by tuning in this 17th-century meantone temperament we are therefore encouraging a much enhanced resonance in both choir and orchestra, with all major chords performed with pure thirds. There has been much scholarly debate about the pitch of Lauda Ierusalem and the Magnificat. These are notated in the part books in a combination of “high” (chiavetti) clefs which dictates a downward transposition of a fourth. For this recording I decided to include both versions, one at high pitch and one at low, so that you the listener can determine your own preference. This recording was the culmination of weeks immersed in the joy that Monteverdi’s music brings us. Concert performances, a documentary for BBC2 on the Vespers with our great friend, the actor Simon Russell Beale, culminating in the recording sessions. I am so fortunate to have within The Sixteen’s ranks soloists, both vocal and instrumental, who are alert to these wonderful texts, but above all bring this glorious music to life.

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