Grandi Vespers

This is the second disc to come from Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli forces and it is already their second Gramophone Award. When I reviewed their Virgin Classics' recording of a reconstruction of a dogal coronation of 1595 (5/90) I admired their stylish blend of informed scholarship and sensitive musicianship allied to performances from musicians well-versed in the language of the period. Added to that the music was recorded with great immediacy in the acoustically impressive surroundings of Brinkburn Priory in Northumberland. For this reconstruction of a Vespers that could have be held in St Mark's, Venice McCreesh shows a real understanding of the placing and choreography of the participants in the musical aspects of the liturgy.

Following the international success of their first album on Resonus, Venice 1629, Jamie Savan with his acclaimed period group The Gonzaga Band continue their exploration of lesser-known music in the Baroque Venetian orbit. Here they uncover the Vespers (1616), a forgotten masterpiece by Amadio Freddi, maestro di cappella of Treviso Cathedral during Monteverdi’s tenure at St Mark’s in Venice.

Alessandro Grandi (ca. 1586–1630) was Claudio Monteverdi’s Vice-Kapellmeister at St. Mark’s in Venice for seven years, before he was elected Kapellmeister at the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo in 1627. He improved the musical conditions there in a very short time, however already in 1630 he and his entire family succumbed to the plague. The musical height of his tenure as Kapellmeister were the elaborately celebrated Marian feast days, for which the musical forces were doubled. Through their publication Grandi’s works were widely disseminated and document the fact that as a composer he proved to be a lasting influence in shaping the rapid developments and changes which took place in music at the beginning of the 17th century. The quality of his psalm settings, especially the later ones, make him, together with Monteverdi and Rovetta, one of the most important composers of his day. His Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) is comprised of works taken from various printed collections of the master and may be regarded as a model for current practice of the early baroque in Italy. The CD is from a live recording of a concert presented during the Musikfest Stuttgart 2010 by the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart together with outstanding soloists, such as Deborah York and Peter Harvey under the direction of Matthew Hall.