大象传媒

Live from Westminster Abbey, introduced by Martin Handley.

In the final concert of the London Festival of Baroque Music, James O'Donnell conducts The Choir of Westminster Abbey and St James's Baroque in Monteverdi's stupendous Vespers of 1610.

Monteverdi: Vespers (1610)

The Choir of Westminster Abbey
St James's Baroque
James O'Donnell (conductor)

Monteverdi's Vespers of the Most Holy Virgin is the largest-scale church piece before the time of Bach. It was published in Venice in 1610, when Monteverdi was employed at the court of Mantua, and probably looking for a major church post - he appointed Director of Music at St Mark's in Venice three years later. It was composed on an epic scale, with a choir that is sometimes split into ten parts, challenging solo movements for sopranos, tenors and bass, and virtuoso solo parts for cornetts and violins. It is grand yet intimate, a perfect work for the ringing acoustic of Westminster Abbey, and a celebratory end to the London Festival of Baroque Music.

Further concerts from the London Festival of Baroque Music can be heard on the Early Music Show on 24th and 31st May.