Jag skrev om den här skivan i en annan tråd - om vinylens ev fortlevnad. Nu är det emellertid frågan om en nyutgiven SACD-hybrid, ursprungligen inspelad 1989 (och då utgiven som vanlig CD). I den andra tråden konstaterade jag att för mig bevisar denna skiva att CD-mediet räcker mycket långt om man hanterar det rätt (har ingen SACD-spelare).
Musiken är Monteverdis "Vespro della Beata Vergine", skriven 1610 i Mantova och Monteverdis första sakrala verk. Det är - som nästan allt Monteverdi skrev - fantastiskt vacker musik, och musikaliskt djärv för sin tid.
Jordi Savall dirigerar en grupp utsökta instrumentalister och dito sångare och sångerskor. Man lägger särskilt märke till sopranen Montserrat Figueras och tenorerna vars namn jag nu glömt, och som gör fullständigt lysande prestationer i några partier med tre sångare.
Instrumentalisterna är också mycket bra och man spelar livligt och medryckande.
Dessutom är inspelningen en av de bästa jag någonsin hört. Man spelade in i den kyrka i Mantova där verket uruppfördes 1610 och man använde sig av två rundtagande mikrofoner. Få skivor har en så fin rumsåtergivning som denna. Trots att det var så många som 60 personer medverkande hörs alla stämmor bra och enskilda röster och instrument urskiljs lätt.
Vid nyutgivningen diskuterades tydligen att mixa om till flerkanal, men Jordi Savall motsatte sig det. Så SACD-lagret är tvåkanalsstereo precis som CD-lagret.
En skiva som varmt rekommenderas alla som gillar barockmusik, och alla som ännu inte gör det.
CDuniverse skrev:This is a hybrid Super Audio CD playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.
It is believed that Claudio Monteverdi composed the 'Vespro della Beata Vergine' as an exalted appeal to Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga to consider him for the position of chapel master at the Palatine Basilica of Santa Barbara, which was devoted to the performance of sacred music. Performing in the basilica--the probable site of the first performance of the 'Vespro'--Jordi Savall and company give this magnificent music a profoundly inspired reading.
The 'Vespro' is something of a compendium of the many musical styles one would have heard in the stylistic crucible that was early 17th-century Northern Italy. It allows Savall's ensemble to show off its many assets, from highly expressive solo singing--as in the lovely tenor motet, Nigra sum--to resplendent choral-instrumental ensemble work--as in the opening responsory, Domine ad adiuvandum.
An outstanding merit of this recording is the use of a single pair of omnidirectional microphones instead of the usual multitude of directional microphones, which erase the acoustics of the space--an integral component of this music. So instead of uniform blandness, one hears a wide range of timbres, spatial depths, and dynamics, all of which combine to make this a moving and vital recording.
John Sunier, Audad.com skrev:MONTEVERDI: Vespro della Beata Vergine, 1610 - Soloists/La Capella Reial/Coro del Centro Musica Antica di Padova/Jordi Savall - AliaVox Heritage Stereo-only SACD AVS9855 A+B, (2 discs: 46:35 & 49:08) ***** [Distr. by Harmonia mundi]:
There have been quite a few recordings of this monumental sacred music work, which was the only one in that category composed by Monteverdi during his time at the court of Mantua, and published in 1610. This is probably the most thoroughly researched and accurately performed of all, but my vote still goes to the astoundingly spectacular Venetian Vespers of 1643 conducted by Paul McCreesh on the Archive label - which uses portions of this 1610 Vespers plus works by Cavalli, Rigatti and Grandi, which were performed in Venice for the Feast of the Annunciation at San Marco Cathedral in 1643. You should have both.
This recording was actually made in 1989 for the Astree label, using only a pair of B & K omnidirectional mikes, and recorded in exactly the same space in which Monteverdi’s musicians had performed the work in 1610: the basilica of Santa Barbara in Mantua. Savell resisted the urge to remaster this two-channel original to 5.0 surround. Up to 60 performers were involved in the recording; some were placed on tiers to adapt them to the strengths and character of each section of the Vespers. They had to deal with extreme cold and fatigue - often recording all night until the early morning. The solo singers, including Montserrat Figueras, Gerd Turk and Pietro Panoli, are superb, and the emotional drama of all the portions of this watershed work in the Marian tradition is conveyed convincingly by Savall and his performers.
Monteverdi pulled out all the stops for this impressive liturgical work. He used freer counterpoint than normal, and a variety of vocal settings - a sort of hierarchy of voices. It often reaches - as in the multi-voiced sections of the closing Magnificat - ecstatic heights. The instrumental sections are equally impressive. A complete libretto is included in several languages in the 164-page booklet. The whole packaging is an example of the lavish materials in every AliaVox release - surely the leaders in the field.
