Dominus

As usual with Harry Christophers and the Sixteen, the performance is very "clean", in some places perhaps to the point of being "clinical". There are, nevertheless, a number of "peaks" (such as when Michael George begins his "Sicut sagittae in manu potentis" or in the "De torrente in via bibet" for two sopranos and choir towards the end of the Dixit Dominus). … "Silete Venti" by far excels the other two pieces on the disc. Lynne Dawson, possibly the best female Handelian in the entire English early music scene, performs the whole motet with warmth, inner conviction and personal charm, and her vocal timbre, pure as a bell, magnificently complements Handel's typical strings-with-oboes orchestral sound.

What we get is a work steeped in Cimarosa’s operatic experience, but conventionally ‘sacred’ in form. Thus we get to hear all the musical forces at beginning and end of the work, and in between soloists alternate with chorus. The music is, unsurprisingly, very well put together; there are plenty of enticing melodies and the whole has considerable charm. But compared to the great settings of the same Psalm it lacks both profundity and real grandeur of conception. Still, take it on its own terms and there is much to enjoy.

Handel's Dixit Dominus HWV 232 (1707) is certainly one of the most impressive compositions of his several years in Italy. With this extremely effective piece, the only 22-year-old obviously wanted to demonstrate all of his compositional skills. Il Gardellino and Bart Van Reyn accompany him on their recording with the breathtaking cantata Il Pianto di Maria, which was long attributed to Handel until recent research has shown that it was penned by the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Ferrandini (1710-1791).

Vivaldi's Dixit Dominus, RV 807, was added to the Vivaldi canon only in 2005; it was long attributed to Baldassare Galuppi. That shows you how minor composers don't get their due; it's a marvelous work, but it's only getting recordings now that Vivaldi's name is attached to it. At any rate, it's well worth hearing in this excellent performance by the rising British group La Nuova Musica, which has both vocal and instrumental components. They move like a well-oiled machine, making possible the clear communication of such vivid details as the musical depiction of a stream in the strings in the countertenor aria De torrente in via bibet (track 8) and the unusually elaborate fugue that concludes the work..