La tempete, Simon-Pierre Bestion – Monteverdi: Vespro (2019) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Do not adjust your set, there is no mistake: you’re not listening to a Marcel Perez record. This is indeed the Vespers of the Blessed Virgin by Monteverdi for the label Alpha. Simon- Pierre Bestion, faithful fixture of the Cris de Paris and Insula Orchestra, conducts his own ensemble, La Tempête. With its wild vocal polyphonics, it is rooted in the folk traditions of Sardinia and Corsica. These Vespers are simply stunning, and enriched by Gregorian faux-bourdons. As the instrumentation wasn’t always set down precisely, the orchestra is able to make use of uncommon timbres, while still respecting the Italian cosmopolitanism of the Venice of the day (a shofar, harps, trombones, chitarrones).

Published (in part) just after Orfeo (1607) and Arianna (1608), also by Monteverdi, this collection of Vespers (1610) remains mysterious in spite of the best efforts of musicologists. Its different portions were most likely written at different moments in the musician’s career. Some pieces will have been written prior to its publication, and others added rather later. The response Domine ad adjuvandum, which uses the same material as the toccata from the overture to Orfeo, corroborates this picture.

Simon-Pierre de Bestion’s interpretation of this text is unique, and based on a conception of the rites that is full of solemnity and trance. The grandiose score bursts the normal bounds of the form and invites such a re-reading: its daring stretches out time, and the varied succession of the pieces within it dazzle us time and time again, thanks to the musical audacity of these thrilling artists. – Elsa Siffert

Tracklist:

CD1
01. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Faux-bourdon Domine ad adjuvandum me
02. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Toccata et Domine ad adjuvandum me
03. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Antienne Gaudeamus omnes
04. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Faux-bourdon Dixit Dominus
05. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Dixit Dominus
06. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Nigra sum
07. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Antienne Diffusa est gratia
08. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Faux-bourdon Laudate pueri
09. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Laudate pueri
10. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Pulchra es
11. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Antienne Tota pulchra es
12. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Faux-bourdon Laetatus sum
13. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Laetatus sum
14. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Duo Seraphim
15. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Antienne Recordare Virgo Mater
16. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Faux-bourdon Nisi Dominus
17. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Nisi Dominus

CD2
01. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Ricercar sopra Sancta Maria (Frescobaldi)
02. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Audi caelum
03. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Antienne Felix es sacra Virgo
04. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Faux-bourdon Lauda Jerusalem
05. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Lauda Jerusalem
06. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Antienne Assumpta est Maria
07. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Sonata sopra Sancta Maria
08. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Ave maris stella
09. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat
10. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Et exultavit’
11. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Quia respexit’
12. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Quia fecit’
13. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Et misericordia’
14. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Fecit potentiam’
15. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Deposuit’
16. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Esurientes’
17. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Suscepit Israel’
18. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Sicut locutus’
19. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Gloria Patri’
20. Vespro della beata vergine, SV 206: Magnificat ‘Sicut erat’