BaL 22.12.18 - Vivaldi: Gloria RV589

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

09.30
Building a Library: Caroline Gill listens to and compares some of the available recordings of Vivaldi's Gloria,

Although Vivaldi wrote 3 settings of the Gloria (RV588-RV590), it is RV589 that has become known simply as 'The Vivaldi Gloria', owing to its enduring popularity. It is thought to have been composed in 1715 for the Pio Ospedale della Pietà, the orphanage, convent and music school in Venice in which Vivaldi taught. Not only is the Vivaldi Gloria strongly influenced by the operatic style of the day, but it also mimics the prevalent concerto grosso style in its alternating episodes for tutti choir and solos. Above all, Vivaldi's Gloria has gained its popularity because of its vibrant musical personality.


Available recordings:-


Gemma Bertagnoli, Sara Mingardo, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

Sara Mingardo, Patricia Biccire & Deborah York, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini*

Northern Chamber Orchestra & Collegium Musicum 90, Rinaldo Alessandrini

Lynda Russell, Gillian Fisher, Ian Partridge, The Sixteen & The Symphony of Harmony and Invention, Harry Christophers

Academy of Ancient Music, Choir of King's College Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury

Lausanne Vocal Ensemble, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Michel Corboz

Margarethe Bence, Friederike Sailer, Stuttgart Pro Musica Orchestra, Marcel Couraud*

Patrizia Kwella, Elizabeth Priday, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Andrew Carwood, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, The Hanover Band, Stephen Darlington

Joowon Chung, Andreas Scholl, Salzburger Bachchor, Bach Consort Wien, Rubén Dubrovsky

Prague Chamber Choir, Tadeusz Strugala, Francesco Fanna

Julia Lezhneva, Franco Fagioli Barocchisti, Coro della Radiotelevisione Svizzera, Diego Fasolis

Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Greg Funfgeld

Gillian Keith, English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge (chorus), The Wren Orchestra, George Guest

Andrea Ihle, Elisabeth Wilke, Annette Markert, Hallenser Madrigalisten, Virtuosi Saxoniae, Ludwig Güttler

Concentus musicus Wien, Arnold Schoenberg Choir, Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Emma Kirkby, Tessa Bonner, Michael Chance, Collegium Musicum 90, Richard Hickox

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra, Tonu Kaljuste

Choir of The King’s Consort, The King’s Consort, Robert King

Laszlo Heltay, Academy Chorus Of St. Martin In The Fields, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner

Ensemble Caprice, Mathias Maute

Teresa Berganza, Lucia Valentini Terrani, New Philharmonia Chorus & Orchestra, Riccardo Muti

Margaret Marshall, Ann Murray, John Alldis Choir, English Chamber Orchestra, Vittorio Negri

Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet

Taverner Choir and Players, Andrew Parrott

Catherine Bott, Julia Goodling, Christopher Robson, Andrew King, Simon Grant, New London Consort, Philip Pickett

Nancy Argenta, Ingrid Attrot, Catherine Denly, The English Concert, The English Concert Choir, Trevor Pinnock

Judith Nelson, Carolyn Watkinson, Emma Kirkby, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford, Academy of Ancient Music, Simon Preston

Coro di Milano della RAI, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI di Milano, Hermann Scherchen

Adriana Damato, Laura Brioli, Wienersingakademie Chorus & I Solisti Veneti, Claudio Scimone (DVD)

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Robert Shaw

Klára Takács, Dénes Gulyás, Budapest Madrigal Choir, Hungarian State Orchestra, Ferenc Szekeres*

Ann Monoyios, Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Ivars Taurins

Northern Chamber Orchestra, Oxford Schola Cantorum, Nicholas Ward

Elizabeth Vaughan, Dame Janet Baker, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, The Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks

[LeMartinPecheur]

EA: could you please identify all the true HIPP recordings - ones with all-female choir?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

EA: could you please identify all the true HIPP recordings - ones with all-female choir?

Ensemble Caprice, Mathias Maute.

[MickyD]

I have quite a few of these, but still love the old, trail-blazing AAM version. I remember it causing a sensation when it came out at the end of the 70s, and played, I think, in a Prom along with the equally new-sounding Water Music.

[Beef Oven!]

I have four 589s.


Gemma Bertagnoli, Sara Mingardo, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

Sara Mingardo, Patricia Biccire & Deborah York, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

Judith Nelson, Carolyn Watkinson, Emma Kirkby, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford, Academy of Ancient Music, Simon Preston

Nancy Argenta, Ingrid Attrot, Catherine Denly, The English Concert, The English Concert Choir, Trevor Pinnock


I doubt that I'll be moved to add a fifth ..........

[MickyD]

I have four 589s.


Gemma Bertagnoli, Sara Mingardo, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

Sara Mingardo, Patricia Biccire & Deborah York, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini

Judith Nelson, Carolyn Watkinson, Emma Kirkby, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford, Academy of Ancient Music, Simon Preston

Nancy Argenta, Ingrid Attrot, Catherine Denly, The English Concert, The English Concert Choir, Trevor Pinnock


I doubt that I'll be moved to add a fifth ..........

Dare I ask if you have a favourite, Beefy?

[Beef Oven!]

Dare I ask if you have a favourite, Beefy?

Depends on what I'm looking for. When I'm in a mood for tightly-sprung Vavaldi rhythms and lyrical singinging, I go for Sara Mingardo, Patricia Biccire & Deborah York, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini. When I'm more laid back and fancy some English plumminess in the singing, it's the Pinnock. I'm too young to get off on the 'novelty' of the AAM

[LeMartinPecheur]

Ensemble Caprice, Mathias Maute.

Thanks EA. If it goes down well with Ms Gill I might be tempted, otherwise my classic AAM and the St John's/ Guest will probably have to suffice.

[MickyD]

Depends on what I'm looking for. When I'm in a mood for tightly-sprung Vavaldi rhythms and lyrical singinging, I go for Sara Mingardo, Patricia Biccire & Deborah York, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini. When I'm more laid back and fancy some English plumminess in the singing, it's the Pinnock. I'm too young to get off on the 'novelty' of the AAM

Cheeky devil, I'm sure you told me you were the same age as me!

[pastoralguy]

A work I've played literally dozens of times albeit on one rehearsal and with an average conductor. Like the Four Seasons, another work I've played too many times, I'm coming back to it and look forward to this BaL.

[gurnemanz]

Surprisingly, I only have three versions so might be tempted by a recommendation:

I first got to know the work when our choir sang it in the early 80s (and several times since). At the time I got AAM/Preston, which will always be a favourite. It was in this recording and the Dowland madrigals that many of us fell in love with Emma Kirkby.

I love Sara Mingardo's warm, dark alto and her recording with Patricia Biccire & Deborah York, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini is a delight. The breakneck tempo of the opening is bracing and I can take it, but it may go against it as a library version.

In the light of more recent recordings the 1962 pre-HIPP Kings/ASMF/Willcocks may not quite be my first choice but I still very much enjoy it - light and natural sounding + Janet Baker in the alto part.

[Beef Oven!]

Cheeky devil, I'm sure you told me you were the same age as me!

Then perhaps we're both too young!

[Nick Armstrong]

Antonio Vivaldi - Gloria RV589
Sara Mingardo, Patricia Biccire & Deborah York, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini.

As I listen, I become convinced that this performance is unbeatable. The Domine Deus Rex coelestis is playing as I type and it is simply divine (no pun).

We'll see....

[Pulcinella]

Surprisingly, I only have three versions so might be tempted by a recommendation:

I first got to know the work when our choir sang it in the early 80s (and several times since). At the time I got AAM/Preston, which will always be a favourite. It was in this recording and the Dowland madrigals that many of us fell in love with Emma Kirkby.

I love Sara Mingardo's warm, dark alto and her recording with Patricia Biccire & Deborah York, Concerto Italiano, Rinaldo Alessandrini is a delight. The breakneck tempo of the opening is bracing and I can take it, but it may go against it as a library version.

In the light of more recent recordings the 1962 pre-HIPP Kings/ASMF/Willcocks may not quite be my first choice but I still very much enjoy it - light and natural sounding + Janet Baker in the alto part.

Hasn't just about everyone (especially those of us who sing in amateur choirs) got the King's version in its coupling with the Nelson Mass?
Actually, I don't have that coupling (as I've got the Decca Haydn Mass set that includes the Nelson) but I do have it on a 2CD King's compilation.
I also have the Preston (probably my favourite), Guest, and Ward, and a BBC MM CD which I see is with the Swiss Radio Chorus of Lugano and I Barocchisti, conducted by Fasolis: must relisten to that (live recording of a 1995 concert in Milan).

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Hasn't just about everyone (especially those of us who sing in amateur choirs) got the King's version in its coupling with the Nelson Mass?

No - I had it on a DECCA "Ovation" cassette, coupled with the Bach Magnificat . It's probably in "storage" somewhere in the house -Good performance, and Baker is wonderful.

a BBC MM CD which I see is with the Swiss Radio Chorus of Lugano and I Barocchisti, conducted by Fasolis: must relisten to that (live recording of a 1995 concert in Milan).

That seems to be the only recording of the work I have - and splendid it is, too (though not as good as the wonderful Handel Dixit coupling). Like pasto, it's I work I've frequently sung and played in - and conducted once. I know it so well, I've never felt the need for an additional recording. BeefO's advocacy of the Mingardo/Alessandrini is very convincing, though.