Search - Slattery, Davies, a. Scarlatti :: Cecilian Vespers

This delectable work, premiered in 1721, shows composer Alessandro Scarlatti at his most brilliantly varied. Solo passages are punctuated with choral interjections and vice-versa, an antiphon duet for oboe and the lovely soprano Suzanne Ryden at first seems like one between two singers; Scarlatti fools the ear. Soprano Dominique Labelle brings a grace to her fluent singing in both solo and ensemble passages which manages to be energetic and tender at once. The setting of the Dixit Dominus never rests; a tenor solo is interrupted by the chorus; an intricate soprano-soprano-counter-tenor trio in the "Dominus a dextris" is rendered even more complex by the chorus, which then, in an entirely different meter, nervously jumps its way to the end and then melts into a gentle baritone solo, with long, legato lines. Scarlatti relies on dance rhythms throughout and Nicholas McGegan leads the Philharmonia Baroque and Philharmonia Chorale superbly through every change of tempo and texture. The recording of the Vespers was made live in Berkeley in April of 2004 (its North American premiere); CD 2 adds another forty minutes of prime Scarlatti recorded in the studio. This is a must have--beautiful, fascinating music, ideally performed and recorded. --Robert Levine