Monteverdi Vespers; Vox Luminis: R3 in Concert Monday 15 May

[doversoul1]

As part of the Monteverdi 450 celebrations his monumental 1610 Vespers is performed by two of Europe's leading early music ensembles, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Vox Luminis, directed by Lionel Muenier.
[...]

...and it’s a live recording

Recorded yesterday at the London Festival of Baroque Music at St John's Smith Square and presented by Sara Mohr-Pietsch.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08pwz2t

[DracoM]

Excellent news! Thx for heads-up.

[Serial_Apologist]

In celebration of Monteverdi's 450th he is next week's Composer of the Week, too.

[BBMmk2]

Certainly will catch up on this one!

[doversoul1]

7.30 pm today.

[BBMmk2]

Certainly one to catch up on.

[doversoul1]

Certainly one to catch up on.

It certainly is worth catching up. I thought it was an excellent performance, or rather, I do like this work in chamber size performance.

[Richard Barrett]

I do like this work in chamber size performance.

That is to say, without the unnecessary and anachronistic addition of many more voices than would ever have performed it in the 17th century! Any alternations between solo and tutti voices in the psalm settings are later additions, since there are no such indications in the original score, nor any hint that the number of singers intended was any larger than the number of vocal parts.

[DracoM]

Welcome and more ascetic corrective to several more trumpeted modern recordings. Liked it a lot.

[doversoul1]

That is to say, without the unnecessary and anachronistic addition of many more voices than would ever have performed it in the 17th century! Any alternations between solo and tutti voices in the psalm settings are later additions, since there are no such indications in the original score, nor any hint that the number of singers intended was any larger than the number of vocal parts.

Thank you for the explanation. What about the instrumentation? Lionel Meunier explained in the interval about his decisions on this performance but I couldn’t quite catch all he said. I thought the recorder (?) towards the end sounded slightly odd, not that it spoilt the performance by any means.

[Nevilevelis]

As part of the Monteverdi 450 celebrations his monumental 1610 Vespers is performed by two of Europe's leading early music ensembles, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and Vox Luminis, directed by Lionel Muenier.
[...]

...and it’s a live recording

Recorded yesterday at the London Festival of Baroque Music at St John's Smith Square and presented by Sara Mohr-Pietsch.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08pwz2t

You may find this article interesting...

https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstream/handle/1911/63324/article_rip644_part5.pdf?sequence=1

[doversoul1]

You may find this article interesting...

https://scholarship.rice.edu/bitstre...pdf?sequence=1

Thank you. I’ve managed to open it after looking at a blank page a couple of times.

[Nevilevelis]

Thank you. I’ve managed to open it after looking at a blank page a couple of times.

Yes, quite a big file, I'm afraid, but worth a look if you have the time. The discussion about concertato motet settings of antiphons vs plainsong is very interesting and subtly makes the point that the work as printed was not necessarily intended to be performed complete in the liturgy. Yes, it may be, but for my own part, I don't believe it was Monteverdi's primary intention. It is Monteverdi's Music for Vespers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a display of his compositional skill; a submission for a job in Rome that he never got. Choirs varied in size, and whilst they were never big in modern terms, the nature of the writing stile nuovo or stile antico told the performers who and how many sang what. Their numbers could be augmented for festal straordinarie which might continue over a couple of days, as we know they did in Rome.

NVV