Album

"Chamber Vespers" is a category invented for this recording by the Gonzaga Band, a British ensemble named for the powerful and at times arts-friendly Gonzaga family of Mantua, Italy. The Vespers setting known to casual early Baroque listeners is likely to be the work known as the Vespers of 1610 of Claudio Monteverdi, a massive work whose very size and sumptuousness have made it into a musicological puzzle: it's not clear who would have bankrolled a performance or how it would have been used. The music on this album, by contrast, could have been and in fact was used in everyday services. The performers assemble a Vespers service from works by various composers, with psalms, hymns, and the Magnificat canticle alternating with instrumental works. Some are well-known pieces, such as the Capriccio sopra un soggetto (1626) of Frescobaldi, but many are world premieres. They are indeed chamber-sized, with one or two singers and a small ensemble with cornetts and a continuo with keyboard and theorbo. The musical language is the flexible monodic style of Monteverdi, with expressive settings of the psalm texts and plenty of surprising harmonic moves. The entire concept of the album is very strong and puts across an almost unknown repertory convincingly, with natural, clean instrumental performances. The weak point here is the singing, which is simple and clear but thin and not overly expressive; it is likely that the chapels where this music would have been sung would have had access to virtuoso singers, and the ones here could not be so characterized. Nevertheless, fans of the Monteverdi circle may well be interested in this well-recorded release.

© James Manheim, Rovi

CD 1
Orazio Tarditi Composer Domine ad adjuvandum me Work Gonzaga Band Early Music Ensemble, Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Clare Wilkinson Chant, Gawain Glenton Cornet, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
1	Domine ad adjuvandum me	2:20			$0.99
Adriano Banchieri Composer Dixit Dominus (Psalm 109) Work Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Clare Wilkinson Chant, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
2	Dixit Dominus (Psalm 109)	4:51			$0.99
Giovanni Paolo Cima Composer Sonata per il cornetto e trombone Work Gonzaga Band Early Music Ensemble, Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
3	Sonata per il cornetto e trombone	3:55			$0.99
Giacomo Finetti Composer Laudate pueri (Psalm 2), for voice, cornet and continuo Work Gonzaga Band Early Music Ensemble, Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Clare Wilkinson Chant, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
4	Laudate pueri (Psalm 2), for voice, cornet and continuo	5:20			$0.99
Alessandro Piccinini Composer Toccata 4, for lute (from Intavolatura di Liuto) Work Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
5	Toccata 4, for lute (from Intavolatura di Liuto)	1:26			$0.99
Francesco Petrobelli Composer Laetatus sum (Psalm 3), for voice, cornet and continuo Work Gonzaga Band Early Music Ensemble, Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
6	Laetatus sum (Psalm 3), for voice, cornet and continuo	9:25			$1.49
Girolamo Frescobaldi Composer Canzoni da sonare...libro primo, B.3 (28 pieces: rev. from B.2, B.2a, and 10 new works) Work Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
7	3.Canto solo, Canzon terza, for instruments	3:33			$0.99
Orazio Tarditi Composer Nisi Dominus (Psalm 4), for 2 voices and continuo Work Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Clare Wilkinson Mezzo-Soprano, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
8	Nisi Dominus (Psalm 4), for 2 voices and continuo	4:45			$0.99
Girolamo Frescobaldi Composer 12 Capricci fatti sopra diversi soggetti et arie in partitura, Vol. 1 Work Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
9	11.Capriccio Undecimo sopra un sogetto	4:48			$0.99
Natale Monferrato Composer Lauda Jerusalem (Psalm 5), for 2 voices, 2 cornets and continuo Work Gonzaga Band Early Music Ensemble, Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Clare Wilkinson Mezzo-Soprano, Gawain Glenton Cornet, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
10	Lauda Jerusalem (Psalm 5), for 2 voices, 2 cornets and continuo	6:10			$0.99
Arcangelo Crotti Composer Sonata sopra 'Sancta Maria', for voice and ensemble Work Gonzaga Band Early Music Ensemble, Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Gawain Glenton Cornet, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
11	Sonata sopra 'Sancta Maria', for voice and ensemble	2:06			$0.99
Giovanni Felice Sances Composer Ave maris stella, motet Work Gonzaga Band Early Music Ensemble, Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Clare Wilkinson Mezzo-Soprano, Gawain Glenton Cornet, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
12	Ave maris stella, motet	3:13			$0.99
Adriano Banchieri Composer Magnificat primi toni Work Gonzaga Band Early Music Ensemble, Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Clare Wilkinson Chant, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
13	Magnificat primi toni	5:08			$0.99
Maurizio Cazzati Composer Regina caeli, for voice, 2 cornets and continuo Work Gonzaga Band Early Music Ensemble, Jamie Savan Cornet, Richard Sweeney Theorbo, Gawain Glenton Cornet, Steven Devine Harpsichord, Faye Newton Soprano
14	Regina caeli, for voice, 2 cornets and continuo	4:05			$0.99