Monteverdi – Selva Morale E Spirituale (3 CD, APE)

Composer: Claudio Monteverdi
Performer: Rossana Bertini, Alena Dantcheva, Nadia Ragni, Claudio Cavina, Giuseppe Maletto, Sandro Nagila, Matteo Ballotto, Daniele Carnovich, Svetlana Fomina, Carlo Lazzaroni, Ermes Giussani, Mauro Morini, Corrado Colliard, David Yacus, Giorgio Sanvito, Gabriele Palomba, Fulvio Garlashi, Vittorio Zanon, Francesca Cassinari, Paola Reggiani, Emanuele Bianchi, Giovanni Caccamo, Paolo Borgonovo, Marco Radaelli, Matteo Belotto
Conductor: Claudio Cavina
Audio CD
SPARS Code: DDD
Number of Discs: 3
Format: APE (image+cue)
Label: Glossa
Size: 875 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes

Disc 1:
01. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Versiculus: Deus in adiutorium meum
02. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Responsorium: Domine ad adiuvandum
03. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Antiphona I: Ingresso Zacharia
04. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Dixit Dominus II
05. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Antiphona I: Ingresso Zacharia
06. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Antiphona II: Ait autem angelus
07. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Confitebor tibi, Domine II
08. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Laudate Dominum in Sanctis Eius
09. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Antiphona III: Ego sum Gabriel
10. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Beatus vir II
11. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Antiphona III: Ego sum Gabriel
12. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Antiphona IV: Gabriel angelus
13. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Laudate, pueri II
14. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Antiphona IV: Gabriel angelus
15. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Antiphona V: Dixit autem Maria
16. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Laudate Dominum I
17. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Antiphona V: Dixit autem Maria
18. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Hymnus: Christe sanctorum
19. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Antiphona ad Magnificat: Gabriel angelus
20. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Magnificat II
21. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Gabriele Arcangelo: Salve Regina

Disc 2:
01. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Versiculus: Deus in adiutorium meum
02. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Responsorium: Domine ad adiuvandum
03. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Antiphona I: Iacob autem genuit
04. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Dixit Dominus I
05. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Antiphona I: Iacob autem genuit
06. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Antiphona II: Missus est angelus Gabriel
07. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Confitebor tibi, Domine I
08. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Antiphona II: Missus est angelus Gabriel
09. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Antiphona III: Cum esset desponsata
10. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Beatus vir I
11. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Antiphona III: Cum esset desponsata
12. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Antiphona IV: Ioseph vir eius
13. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Laudate, pueri I
14. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Jubilet tota civitas
15. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Antiphona V: Angelus Domini
16. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Laudate Dominum III
17. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Antiphona V: Angelus Domini
18. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Hymnus: Te Ioseph celebret
19. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Antiphona ad Magnificat: Exurgens Ioseph
20. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Magnificat I
21. Selva morale e spirituale: Vespro di San Giuseppe: Salve Regina

Disc 3:
01. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Laudate Dominum II
02. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Kyrie
03. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Gloria
04. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Credo
05. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Crucifixus
06. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Et resurrexit
07. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Et iterum
08. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Offertorium: Confitebor tibi Domine III alla francese
09. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Communio: Credidi
10. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Sanctus
11. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Agnus Dei
12. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Memento Domine David
13. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Salve Regina: Audi coelum
14. Selva morale e spirituale: Missa Solemnis: Pianto della Madonna

Magnificent Monteverdi from La Venexiana

Anyone who is familiar with La Venexiana’s outstanding versions of Monteverdi’s music – including “L’Orfeo”, all the books of madrigals (especially a magnificent 8th Book) and, most recently, “L’Incoronazione di Poppea”- will probably have high expectations of the present recording. If so, they will not be disappointed. Recorded live in Spain at a series of concerts in the church of San Miguel, Cuenca, the acoustic is superb and the atmosphere glorious.

Claudio Cavina’s La Venexiana ensemble have taken a rather different approach from the usual one to this monumental collection of sacred works, by arranging the pieces into three concerts consisting of two sets of Vespers and a Missa Solemnis. This decision works extremely well in practice; its only disadvantage is that some of the movements of the beautiful 4-voice Messa da Capella are absent, being replaced by the brilliant concerted Mass movements from the collection including the well-known 7-voice Gloria. As a result this is not quite a complete recording of the “Selva Morale”. Nevertheless, the music-making is brilliant and the effect absolutely superb.

Among La Venexiana’s many fine qualities in their Monteverdi performances are the marvellous integration of voices and instruments, the sheer brilliance and beauty of the singing and playing – and, above all, the group’s total commitment and exceptional feeling for the music. All of these qualities are here in abundance. Among the greatest delights are the concerted works such as Dixit Dominus I, Beatus Vir I, the accompanied Gloria mentioned above, and the movements of the Messa da Capella – not forgetting a stunning Pianto della Madonna to conclude the recording. If you know and love the 1610 Vespers but are not yet familiar with the Selva Morale, try listening to any of these pieces and I believe you will soon be hooked.

As for other recordings of Monteverdi’s magnificent late sacred collection, if you must have completeness the best in my view is Gabriel Garrido’s brilliant and spirited version on the Ambronay label, with inspired direction and some glorious instrumental playing among its many assets. There is also a fine, but somewhat secular-sounding, complete recording by Konrad Junghänel’s Cantus Cölln on Harmonia Mundi. To be fair, the British “Gramophone” magazine’s reviewer preferred that version to the present one and gave La Venexiana, including their recorded sound, a rather lukewarm write-up. But personally I think he needs to get his hearing aid checked because for me the beautifully captured church acoustic, together with La Venexiana’s deeply felt interpretation of the music, give their performance a devotional quality which few others can match.

There’s also a version by Françoise Lasserre’s Ensemble Akadêmia; I don’t know this one but have another of their Monteverdi discs which is excellent. The old Erato recording by Michel Corboz, pre-dating the historically inspired performance movement, served quite well in its time but now sounds stodgy by comparison with these more recent offerings. To sum up, then, for me Cavina’s La Venexiana are supreme, but Garrido’s recording is superb as well