VESPERS 1610

Dunedin Consort, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts, John Butt

The sonic grandeur of Monteverdi's spectacular masterpiece is expertly realized in this recording by John Butt and Dunedin Consort. Together with the virtuoso players of His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts and a star-studded line up, including Peter Harvey, Joanne Lunn and Nicholas Mulroy, Dunedin Consort delivers the perfect recording to celebrate the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi's birth.

The raison d'être for this recording was reinforced following a performance of the Vespers at the 2016 Lammermuir Festival which wowed the critics: The Herald called it superbly stylish...an exhilarating performance whilst The Scotsman stated it is hard to imagine a more exquisite, deeply felt performance. In direct contrast to the more typically lavish stagings John Butt's preference for single part performance brings a welcome sense of intimacy to Monteverdi's most famous work.

In eschewing the pomp and circumstance John Butt's approach delivers a fresh, modern performance that allows the individuality of the soloists to shine.

Monteverdi:
 Vespro della beata Vergine (1610)

"[Butt’s] flexible approach to the vexed question of the proportional speeds between duple and triple sections produces some surprisingly languid effects…but a dance-like vitality elsewhere…using just ten singers creates a great transparency of texture"
BBC Music Magazine - October 2017 *****

"Butt’s innate ability to shape a movement is regularly on show…The contours of the music are further delineated by another of Butt’s performance decisions, which is to find tempo relationships which lead to triple-time sections being about half the speed we have become used to hearing…With so many Vespers recordings out there, this one joins the ranks of those with both a character of its own and something to say."
Gramophone Magazine - October 2017

"Vital passion (especially in the concerti), fresh, compelling fervour, luminous clarity and exquisite phrasing flow from ten vocal virtuosi and brilliant instrumentalists. Even if one prefers interpretations with a ripieno choir, it must be conceded that small forces of this quality can pack a knock-out punch – che forza!"
Choir & Organ - March 2018 *****