- Artist:
- The King's Consort
Vivaldi: The Complete Sacred Music (11CD box set)
$69.99
Try to imagine a world without Vivaldi’s Gloria. Hard to picture, and yet little more than a century ago his sacred music was virtually unknown. It was only in 1926 that a discovery near Turin brought around 300 manuscripts to light, including some 50 sacred works, an archive of almost immeasurable importance for our understanding of this repertoire.
This 11-CD set opens the door to this remarkable body of work. Alongside the well-known Gloria, it brings together pieces such as Beatus vir, the deeply expressive Stabat mater, and the striking Dixit Dominus, RV 594. Performed by an outstanding line-up including Joyce DiDonato, Nathalie Stutzmann, Carolyn Sampson, Robin Blaze, Sarah Connolly and many others, it offers a rich and nuanced picture of Vivaldi’s sacred music. At the same time, the collection reveals the full breadth of his style, from works written for the female musicians of the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice to the more virtuosic compositions of his middle period. These long-unavailable recordings from 1994 to 2002 are described by American Record Guide as “landmarks in the history of recorded music that are farther between than one might think.” They invite a fresh encounter with the full range of Vivaldi’s sacred music.