Monteverdi: Vespro di Natale (Christmas Vespers) (2CD)

Andrea Marcon

Monteverdi: Vespro di Natale (Christmas Vespers) (2CD)

The Vespro veneziano that Andrea Marcon has assembled for this new recording is inspired by the resplendent sounds of the music that was performed at the great Christmas Vespers in St. Mark’s in the presence of the foremost dignitaries of La Serenissima and a large audience of aristocrats and visitors from across Europe. This reconstruction features works from various printed anthologies of works by Monteverdi and his contemporaries and presents the sort of Vespers that might have been heard in Venice over the Christmas period during the long incumbency of “il divino Claudio” as maestro di cappella at St Mark’s.

Featuring La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel, La Cetra Vocal Ensemble, and the impressive grand Zanin organ in the Museo Civico di Santa Caterina, Treviso.

TRACK LIST

CD 1
CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI (1567–1643)
Domine ad adiuvandum — Deus in adiutorium meum intende

GIOVANNI GABRIELI (c. 1554/57–1612)
Intonatione del primo tono

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Psalm 109: Dixit Dominus II

ALESSANDRO GRANDI (1575–1630)
O felix, o lucidissima nox
Alice Borciani canto · Matthias Lucht alto

GIOVANNI GABRIELI
Intonatione del undicesimo tono
Psalm 110: Confitebor tibi, Domini III (alla francese)

FRANCESCO USPER (c.1570–1641)
Sonata a 8 con quattro soprani

GIOVANNI GABRIELI
Intonatione del quinto tono

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Psalm 111: Beatus vir I

ALESSANDRO GRANDI
O intemerata
William Shelton canto · Carlos Mena alto

CD 2

GIOVANNI GABRIELI

Intonatione del secondo tono

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Psalm 112: Laudate pueri II
Venite, sitientes, ad aquas Domini
Alice Borciani canto I · Francesca Cassinari canto II

GIOVANNI GABRIELI
Intonatione del ottavo tono

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Psalm 116: Laudate Dominum I

GIOVANNI GABRIELI
Sonata XVIII a 14

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Hymnus: Christe redemptor omnium
Alice Borciani canto I · Francesca Cassinari canto II · Carlos Mena alto
Ivo Haun de Oliveira tenor I · Csongor Szántó tenor II · Guglielmo Buonsanti bass

GIOVANNI VALENTINI (c.1582/83–1649)
Hodie Christus natus est
Carlos Mena alto · Eva Saladin & Claudio Rondo violins

GIOVANNI GABRIELI
Intonatione del nono tono

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Magnificat I

GIOVANNI GABRIELI
Intonatione del decimo tono

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI
Cantate Domino a 6

La Cetra Barockorchester & Vokalensemble Basel
Carlos Federico Sepúlveda chorus master
Vocal Soloists: Alice Borciani, Francesca Cassinari, Carlos Mena, Matthias Lucht, William Shelton
Andrea Marcon conductor