Monteverdi's Vespers from the Utrecht Early Music Festival

[AuntDaisy]

I was excited to see this evening's In Concert, " Monteverdi's Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary" - then, I made the mistake of reading Gramophone's review of what looks like a CD release. Might give it a go and see what happens...

Monteverdi's Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Radio 3 in Concert

Monteverdi's Vespers from the Utrecht Early Music Festival.

Simon-Pierre Bestion directs a performance of Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) in an imaginative recreation of the way this great landmark of music history might have been heard at the Basilica of Saint Mark in Venice. Alongside the great choral psalm settings by Monteverdi himself, Simon-Pierre Bestion includes the Gregorian chants on which they are based. But he goes even further, by including songs from a manuscript in the Carpentras library. These anonymous songs reflect the centuries-long oral traditions found throughout the Mediterranean basin, their harmonies and inflections evoking the folk traditions of Italy, Sardinia and Corsica. These songs, the conductor suggests, would have found their way into any performance in early Baroque Venice, that great centre of economic and cultural exchange.

More Bestion / La Tempête here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSV0eNXkohs

[vinteuil]

... I seem to recall that this recording was lauded with typical passion by jayne-lee wilson (?) sometime of these boards - a recording then (in my reading of it) effectively demolished by some withering criticism from RichardB here

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[AuntDaisy]

... I seem to recall that this recording was lauded with typical passion by jayne-lee wilson (?) sometime of these boards - a recording then (in my reading of it) effectively demolished by some withering criticism from RichardB here.

Thanks vinteuil, the Gramophone review rather put me off it and I think you've helped as well.

[Pulcinella]

Giving up already!
Not for me, however well intentioned it might be.

[AuntDaisy]

Oh well, back to a different Monteverdi Vespers - I listened to the L'Arpeggiata a few days ago & really enjoyed it, ~75mins of lively joy.

[HighlandDougie]

Having recently been enjoying Raphaël Pichon in Monteverdi (I'm a fan although I understand why people might not share my enthusiasm) - and after a fairly awful day - I lasted perhaps a whisper more than Pulcinella. I might try again.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Well I’m enjoying it . Bizarre but listenable.

[Beresford]

Not much lively joy here, or even grip. My first exposure to these Vespers was in St Johns, Cambridge, in the 70's. Probably a J.E. Gardiner performance. I was pinned to my seat by the intensity of it, and exhausted by the end. That sort of excitement seems quite rare nowadays. Similar story with the Mozart (l'Elisir d'Amore) from the RAH the other evening. Highly competent performance, but they were trying too hard, so there was far less joy than than in a touring performance with 7 singers and a piano that I heard a long time ago. Maybe it was the touring part of the London Opera Centre.
p.s. As I write this at 8-30 the singing seems to have greatly improved!

[DracoM]

Am loving it - so NOT ultra smooth.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Am loving it - so NOT ultra smooth.

Exactly right. I love the rasping rawness of it all.

[Pulcinella]

Exactly right. I love the rasping rawness of it all.

I can appreciate that as a concert experience it would be 'interesting', but hard to take over the airwaves with no visual involvement.
Certainly raw (Master Peter's puppet show sprang to mind!).

[kernelbogey]

I assume that the roughness is explained by the approach explained on the R3 website:

Simon-Pierre Bestion directs a performance of Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) in an imaginative recreation of the way this great landmark of music history might have been heard at the Basilica of Saint Mark in Venice. Alongside the great choral psalm settings by Monteverdi himself, Simon-Pierre Bestion includes the Gregorian chants on which they are based. But he goes even further, by including songs from a manuscript in the Carpentras library. These anonymous songs reflect the centuries-long oral traditions found throughout the Mediterranean basin, their harmonies and inflections evoking the folk traditions of Italy, Sardinia and Corsica. These songs, the conductor suggests, would have found their way into any performance in early Baroque Venice, that great centre of economic and cultural exchange.

So I assume it is meant to convey the 'folk traditions' of singing. I've no idea how authentic this is as a re-creation of early performances.

[DracoM]

Exactly right. I love the rasping rawness of it all.

[mopsus]

I was a little puzzled by what sounded like a hummed version of the usual instrumental accompaniment in part of the Ave Maris Stella. Perhaps I've just sung too many John Rutter carol arrangements but that seemed very late 20th century!

[Pulcinella]

I was a little puzzled by what sounded like a hummed version of the usual instrumental accompaniment in part of the Ave Maris Stella. Perhaps I've just sung too many John Rutter carol arrangements but that seemed very late 20th century!

Did it go up a semitone for the last verse?