BaL 27.04.2024 - Monteverdi: Vespers (1610)

[oliver sudden]

June 2010 Gramophone comparative review.
I see that (pace Oliver) the discography has a note of which versions transpose the Magnificat.

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature...ording-is-best

No pace required as far as I can tell? Kemp also refers to Parrott as the first Magnificat transposer on record. And indeed likewise has Parrott at the top of the pile with an honourable mention for Pluhar (by which I was also most impressed when it came out).

[Pulcinella]

No pace required as far as I can tell? Kemp also refers to Parrott as the first Magnificat transposer on record. And indeed likewise has Parrott at the top of the pile with an honourable mention for Pluhar (by which I was also most impressed when it came out).

By 'pace' I meant that it was you who first mentioned the transposition aspect on the thread (I think!).

[oliver sudden]

Oh I see! I suppose I'm more used to seeing 'pace' in the sense of 'with all due respect to the honourable gentleman...'

[Pulcinella]

Oh I see! I suppose I'm more used to seeing 'pace' in the sense of 'with all due respect to the honourable gentleman...'

I think you're correct and I misused the word (so need to think what I should have said): but I hope I gave you due respect if not the credit!
And I'm sure that you're honourable.


There must be a better way of saying 'with Oliver's comment in mind'.....

[anorak]

I'm very happy with the Concerto Italiano/Rinaldo Alessandrini recording. Concerto Italiano can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. I have loads of their recordings. This one has the wonderful Roberta Invernizzi (soprano) and Daniele Carnovich (bass).

[Maclintick]

But I still love the Parrott recording. I’m not greatly knowledgable about Monteverdi, so I cannot comment on authenticity matters, but if I only had Parrott’s recording, that would be just fine.

That’s also the only recording I possess. I attended the Pygmalion Prom in 2017, which was enjoyable, but can’t say that it surpassed the Parrott in any way, although I can’t claim any HIPP credentials either, so will listen attentively to what Jeremy Summerly has to say - a reviewer I rate highly.

[smittims]

I hope that one aspect of this work will be considered in this BaL talk. We are used to hearing it as a complete uninterrupted concert performance , as we would any major choral work like Messiah or Gerontius, yet there's been much debate over how Monteverdi imagined it being performed. For instance, was the collection just that, a compendium from which individual numbers could be taken and sung in a liturgical context, or did he imagine some sort of presentation of the work to an audience? I think there's been a lot of debate about how many performers he expected. It would be a pity, I think, to insist on one 'right' way of doing this work, as has happened in the past, leading to some extended epistolary duels. .

[Darloboy]

Previous winners and other award winners.

Here is the filtered list of award winners.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/works/59046--monteverdi-vespro-della-beata-vergine-1610/browse?award_winner=true&size=10&view=large&sort=r elevance

I'm sure that Darloboy will clarify, but the King recording seems to have been flagged as the BaL winner in both April 2007 and December 2010.

I

Yes, I think the reason they did it again so quickly afterwards was because it was the 400th anniversary of its publication. Simon Heighes was reviewer both times.

Other previous BaL choices:

Nicholas Kenyon (Jan 91): Bernius + Parrott (for the complete liturgical reconstruction)
Bruce Wood (June 97): Parrott + Pickett as runner-up

Just to add that in 2007 Simon Heighes made Tragicomedia Stephen Stubbs his mid-price choice (ovpp).
I've also noted that he made Stubbs his ovpp choice in 2010 and gave an honourable mention to Higginbottom as a boy trebles version.

[MickyD]

There was also an all-male version from Regensburg forces under Schneidt in the mid-70s on Archiv. It was considered quite ground-breaking at the time. I gave it a listen the other day and the 'period' violins now sound rather dated, if you see what I mean!

[smittims]

Yes, I enjoyed that version , though I haven't heard it for years. The solo violinist was Eduard Melkus. I liked his style very much. He used to play the Bach sonatas and partitas in a very refreshing way.

[AuntDaisy]

There was also an all-male version from Regensburg forces under Schneidt in the mid-70s on Archiv. It was considered quite ground-breaking at the time. I gave it a listen the other day and the 'period' violins now sound rather dated, if you see what I mean!

MickyD, is it ths one? New to me.



A Gramophone reviewer commended it.

Hanns-Martin Schneidt’s 1975 recording with the Regensburg Cathedral Choir is the first to use boys’ voices. They bring a brightness to the performance that sits well with the increased technical confidence of the period-instrument playing, and there is some excellent solo singing, including a beautiful, other-worldly countertenor version of “Pulchra es” from Paul Esswood and Kevin Smith. A later account by Heinz Hennig with the Hanover Boys’ Choir (1979) is similar in style but lacks the same polish, leaving Schneidt’s with justifiable claims to be the state-of-the-art Vespers for the 1970s, as Jürgens’s was for the ’60s.

[MickyD]

MickyD, is it ths one? New to me.



A Gramophone reviewer commended it.

Yes, that's the one. It was reissued on CD but think it's been long deleted (in fact it is now fetching crazy prices on Amazon). As you can see, it has an impressive male cast.
I think the only other all-male recording now available is the Higginbottom, which I flagged up earlier and which is much to my taste.

[smittims]

It was originally on three Lps, including the second (simpler ) Magnificat and the Missa in Illo Tempore. I gave away my copy in 1984. I wish I'd kept it now!

[AuntDaisy]

...
I think the only other all-male recording now available is the Higginbottom, which I flagged up earlier and which is much to my taste.

Thanks, MickyD, for flagging it - I really enjoyed it.

It was originally on three Lps, including the second (simpler ) Magnificat and the Missa in Illo Tempore. I gave away my copy in 1984. I wish I'd kept it now!

Is this it? £52 on Amazon!



The only Hanns-Martin Schneidt I have is the "Psalms of David" in the gold Archive box.

[oliver sudden]

Yes, that's the one. It was reissued on CD but think it's been long deleted (in fact it is now fetching crazy prices on Amazon). As you can see, it has an impressive male cast.

Ironically it’s much more readily available on LP! Otherwise the Japanese edition is probably the way to go.