Claudio Monteverdi’s Vespers for the Blessed Virgin (1610) are so much more than evening prayers in church. The maestro of St Mark’s takes the traditional recipe for vespers as his starting point – a combination of psalms, hymns and canticles – but transforms it into spectacular sound of the highest calibre. Opera and liturgy, old and new, devotion and sensuality: everything collides and merges into one grandiose design. The score exudes the spaciousness of the basilica where Monteverdi developed the sound of the future, as if its graceful galleries, balconies and choir stalls inspired the architecture of the sound. Monteverdi is a genius with voices, but also helps himself to cornetts, trombones, strings, the organ and basso continuo, not as decorative elements but as colours in a palette. Some passages are monumental; others are sober and narrative or out-and-out virtuoso. What could be more wonderful than exploring this masterly labyrinth with Vox Luminis: a collective of musical perfectionists, each with their head in the sources and their heart in their voice.
Program
C. Monteverdi: Vespro della beata vergine
Performers
Vox Luminis | Lionel Meunier, artistic director