Search - Vivaldi, Skidmore, Ex Cathedra :: Vespers

One of the best collections of Vivaldi sacred choral music I

Larry VanDeSande | Mason, Michigan United States | 08/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Baroque era composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) is not as well known for his sacred choral music as his infinitely popular Four Seasons or many of those 500 concertos he wrote, but he should be. That old joke about those concertos -- he wrote the same concerto 500 times -- leaves out the obvious punch line: that every one of the 500 was of the utmost quality. It's the same with his sacred choral music. You can search for weeks to find a dog among his creations...and still be searching.



I thought I'd found every extant version of his wonderful Domine ad adjuvandum me until I chanced upon this collection during an Internet search of the title. This little ASV collection (I finally was sharp enough to figure out that means Academy Sound and Vision, which is printed on the back case) didn't look like it could stand up to heavy hitters like the collections led by now-imprisoned Robert King, Kevin Mallon, and, in days past, the unimpeachable Vittorio Negri, whose set still surpasses either of the more modern collections. The last great recording of the Domine I found was by some Estonians on the Carus label (still available ASIN: B000065DW3), but this one tops even that mighty challengers.



What makes this CD great, first, is its program. Eschewing the evergreen Gloria for reasons explained later, Englishman Jeffrey Skidmore and his Ex Cathedra Chamber Choir and Baroque Orchestra programmed four of Vivaldi's most magnificent works of sacred choral art: Domine ad adjudvandum me, Beatus Vir, Stabat Mater and Magnificat. Skidmore, a specialist in period performance that put together the singers and orchestra that perform here, calls this Vivaldi's "Vespers." Pardon me but I didn't know what that meant. A quick look at my musical dictionary told me vespers are for evening service and sometimes include several psalms, a hymn and the magnificat -- which Skidmore writes in his highly musicological notes is the exact program presented here.



That may be all well and good from a musicological standpoint but the issue for most singers and lovers of sacred choral music is not the academic program but the quality of interpretation and singing art. And, on that count, this CD is easily a five star collection. Under Skidmore's direction, the singing and playing of these English forces are uniformly resplendent and Skidmore's direction is, without fail, dead on in terms of tone, projection, pace and style. I could not find a single instance where I preferred the music be directed or performed differently and there are many sections -- the second movement of Domine ad adjuvandum me coming right up front, for one -- that are interpreted or performed far differently than I'd heard previously.



The soloists are always wonderful -- special plaudits to male alto Nigel Short, who is the equal to David Daniels and Andreas Scholl in the Stabat Mater -- and the music is among the greatest Vivaldi composed in this genre. To make matters even better, the 1991 recording is one of the best I've ever heard on a collection of choral music -- clear and detailed but not resonant, which is a good attribute in Vivaldi's antipohnal music. Nothing in the recording ever clouds up the goings on, the singers' Latin pronunciation is perfect, the playing of orchestral members is equally fine, and you can hear and understand almost every word.



I'd never heard of Skidmore or his groups before this but a scan of the membership shows some big names involved -- tenor Paul Agnew, who has soloed on several sacred music collections under John Eliot Gardiner; and period cellist Anthony Pleeth, a peirod cellist of some renown -- are part of his choir and orchestra, respectively. One reason I may never have known this previously is this was apparently recorded in 1991, coyrighted in 1994, but released only recently. I have never read about this collection in any classical music critical review periodical or book and it is clearly one of the best collections I have ever heard.



I do, however, have two small nonperformance quibbles with this CD. First, it includes all the text to the vocal scores, for which I am grateful. They are printed in about the smallest typeface I've ever seen, though, and you may have to squint to read them. Second, when I played this in my car stereo the first time, the CD would not eject, as if it was not of a standard size. I've had this happen before with my current and past vehicles and have never figured out if the fault is the car player or the CD.



This quibbles aside, I may have understated my case in the opening line of this review, for this may be the best recording of Vivaldi's choral music I've ever heard. It is clearly better than any of the pasty-faced, wimpy stuff King recorded and is on par with the work done in the 1970s by Negri. Yet this collection has the benefit of acadmemic research that renders it historically correct (the two choirs have only one female alto) as well as musically satisfying. In other words, it's the best of all worlds for anyone that loves this music. If you have any interest, buy or download this CD today."