Monteverdi, Rigatti, Grandi, Cavalli: Venetian Vespers
Paul McCreesh's second major recording (and second Gramophone Award winner) reconstructs Vespers for the Feast of the Annunciation at San Marco circa 1643, using music by Monteverdi and contemporaries including Cavalli, Grandi, and Rigatti. The music is less dense and lavishly scored than onA Venetian Coronation, but more virtuosic and varied--ranging from Finetti's sweet, languid "O Maria, quæ rapis" for two falsettists and Monteverdi's lively "Laudate Dominum" for solo tenor, to Marini's sensuous sonata for three violins and Monteverdi's spectacular "Lætatus sum" for six singers, two violins, two trombones, and bassoon over a repeated four-note bass. There is so much excitement here that even the opening of "Lætatus sum"--four measures of only the repeating bass--shimmers with energy.--Matthew Westphal