Search - Claudio Monteverdi, Robert King, King's Consort :: Monteverdi: The Sacred Music, Vol. 1

Great start to another classy Hyperion series

Ed Brickell | 12/18/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Not long ago, Robert King and The King's Consort completed a wonderful series of Purcell's vocal music for Hyperion. Their new series of sacred music by Monteverdi has the potential to meet the same high standards as that classic set. Light and lively, the Consort's performances make it easy to listen to a lot of Monteverdi in a single sitting. Plus, the series appears as if it will be sequenced with listeners in mind: no multiple settings of a single sacred text appearing on one CD, etc. Nicely recorded with a good sense of Monteverdi's spatial effects, this sounds as if you're looking through a kaleidoscope of fascinating and constantly shifting images. Monteverdi's colorful genius and masterful ear for melody is on full display. And, as usual for Hyperion, the booklet notes are extremely literate and highly detailed, with translations provided for all of the texts and individual cueing of movements for the Mass.Don't hesitate to buy now and get in on the ground floor of what promises to be another high-quality Hyperion series, well worth the premium price."