Ensemble San Felice - Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

The Petite messe solennelle is unique in sacred music and is impossible to imitate or improve upon. Using only keyboards for the instrumental parts proves surprisingly effective and the solo pianoforte is particularly outstanding in the remarkable Prélude which combines Bach-like chromaticism with early hints of Impressionism or in the long introductions and postludes where it assumes a leading role, becoming the fifth soloist in the score. The writing for the solo voices however reverts to Rossini's operatic vein and makes considerable demands on the singers.

Ensemble San Felice - Music & Liturgy in 14th Century Florence / Various [COMPACT DISCS] date 11/19/2013

Following their album largely devoted to sacred polyphonic works composed for the basilica of Santa Barbara during the period in which Claudio Monteverdi worked for the Gonzagas in Mantua, Odhecaton now presents sacred compositions from the composer's later years, written for St Mark's basilica where he became maestro di cappella in 1613. This new recording presents both sides of Monteverdi's sacred style the stile antico or strict contrapuntal style, exemplified in the Mass for four voices published posthumously in 1650; and the stile moderno, that is, concertato and solo vocal writing. The concertato style, which combines and intertwines voices and instruments in dialogue, characterizes the monumental Gloria a 7, which was conceived for a cappella rich in virtuoso singers and instrumentalists. But in this city of theaters, in the heyday of the canto a voce sola, Monteverdi transformed the famous Lamento d'Arianna (from his lost opera Arianna) into a sacred piece. The Litanies to the Virgin Mary, published in three collections between 1620 and 1650, represent the expression of a gentle Marian style, dominated by a cappella choral invocations alternating with brief solo passages.