Monteverdi Vespers - which version

[Guy Berger]

Hi all,

I'm going to acquire a copy of Monteverdi's famous Vespers.  The two versions I'm considering are:

John Eliot Gardiner w/the English Baroque Soloists and Monteverdi Choir

Andrew Parrott w/the Taverner Consort

I've heard and liked performances from both groups, so I imagine neither would be a mistake, but maybe experts here have a preference?

[MomsMobley]

no no No No NO NO-- I strongly suggest you buy neither though Parrott does a # interesting things, one voice per part inc. Nigel Rogers. Gardiner had a chorus, yes, and they're good-- or at least 'impressive' in Handel and Purcell but... you can do much better. In Monteverdi he's a stiff, hyped by Limey press and overexposed by major label machine, Polygram in the U.S. back then.

Of that era '80s / '90s Vespers, William Christie cond. Les Arts Florissants is highly recommended, likewise Gabriel Garrido cond. Ensemble Elyna, though I believe that's out of print at present. Jordi Savall and Rene Jacobs are reasonable third choices, I like it better than Herreweghe on Harmonia Mundi but both are a little too cool.

2000s you have Rinaldo Allesandrini-- I'd put that in top 3 all-time. 

Unless you're a scholar or buy vinyl for $1 disc (in which go crazy), avoid older versions except for Harnoncourt 1 on Teldec, not to be confused with the much more common later re-recording; like H's first St Matthew, for example, it's sometimes creaky but inspired.

I'm passing over textual issues for now.

Allesandrini

Christie

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Garrido live

 

[Larry Kart]

Agree with Moms on Gardiner and Parrott, though I've held onto the latter, but the one I keep returning to (Moms will scream) is the old Robert Craft:

http://www.amazon.com/Monteverdi-Vespers-Blessed-Cantata-Trauerode/dp/B0000029SH/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1462481969&sr=1-1&keywords=craft+monteverdi

[Larry Kart]

A comment on Craft's "Vespers" that rings true to me:

"Craft's projection of the rhythms of this piece is not to be believed.  No better or more
sensitive or understanding musician has ever performed the Vespers than
Craft. He's a strong controlling presence. Unfortunately, his tenor soloists are not exactly virtuosos, and that
is only the most egregious evidence that this is not the most polished
possible professional performance.  (All of Craft's Columbia recordings
were done on a shoestring.)"
 

[MomsMobley]

Oh Craft is OK-- all of 1950s and 1960s recordings are at least that (most of his later ones too though sometimes there are issues with vocalists) and better conceived than many but I can't abide those sonorities except as a certain point in discography / performance practice. File with something like, I dunno... Hindemith's performing edition of L'Orfeo?

I mistyped above btw, it's not Harnoncourt I on Teldec but rather Jurgen Jurgens that's of similar vintage / style as Harnoncourt's first St Matthew. Jurgens Vespers doesn't seem to be on youtube but here's his L'Orfeo from a few years later, give an idea of the soundworld--

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there's a good Konrad Junghanel Vespers on Deutsch Harmonia Mundi but ultimately I found it too gentle or restrained, though not in an anemic (Parrott) or flashy yet po'faced way (Gardiner).

[Larry Kart]

Read David Fallows' chapter on the Vespers in "Choral Music on Record" and you'll wonder whether any textually reliable, musically coherent recording of the work ever could be made. The unresolved and probably forever unresolvable issues involved are horrendous, but performers keep guessing, usually while pretending they are not:

https://books.google.com/books?id=wKDT9lZ3jfkC&pg=PA1&dq=monteverdi+vespers+fallows&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiqrPiv08TMAhVIViYKHfnLDlsQ6AEILzAD#v=onepage&q=monteverdi%20vespers%20fallows&f=false
 

[mikeweil]

Just wanted to post something of that kind. When the first modern printed edition was prepared, they wanted to make it an "opus" like the 19th century composers or rather first musicologist understood the term of a printed work. But Monteverdi's Verspers are just a compilation of pieces for the performer to choose from depending on liturgical requirements, and was never performed that way. Read an article about Alessandro Scarlatti's Verspers last week which presents similar problems for the modern performer. All caused by removing the music from religious services. It's some beautiful music, of course, but not the body of work like an opera or oratorio.

[king ubu]

this one for me: