Monteverdi: Vespers – Marco Mencoboni

Choir & Organ (Nov, 2017)
The welcome re-issue of Marco Mencoboni’s lovingly idiosyncratic and inconsistent interpretation of the more-or-less standard sequence of the 1610 Vespers in a live performance from the Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara in Mantua may not be to everyone’s taste, but it captures the imagination in surround sound with a seething, elemental urgency. The singers and players of Cantar Lontano, placed in the galleries as the musicians would have been in the composer’s time, throw all they’ve got at it, quite often hitting the mark. …