1612: Italian Vespers

GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST 2013: Early Music

"Once summoned to prayer, I stayed on my knees happily for almost 80 minutes, fully absorbed in the latest baroque blockbuster from Robert Hollingworth's ensemble I Fagiolini...Everywhere on this exciting disc we find bold voices atmospherically recorded, standing tall in towering blocks of sound or curling in polyphonic raptures"
(The Times)

"Hollingworth's sincere attention to detail is a much-needed breath of fresh air...[his] impeccable delivery of extra-special crunch moments provides plenty of points to knock your socks off...one can only relish I Fagiolini's gutsy soloists - none more so than the thrilling dialogue between high tenor Nicholas Mulroy and bass Greg Skidmore"
(Recording of the Month Gramophone Sept 2012)

On their second Decca release, '1612: Italian Vespers', Robert Hollingworth takes his maverick ensemble I Fagiolini on a new journey, unearthing incredible lost works from the late Renaissance and early Baroque period.

The title '1612' represents a year of momentous events: the death of the master of the "Massive Baroque" and most brilliant of Venetian multi-choir composers, Giovanni Gabrieli; and thereby the apex of the fashion of multi-choirs. 1612 also marks the publication of Viadana's collection of four-choir "Vesper Psalms", with a layout considerably more forward-looking than Monteverdi's psalms in his 1610 publication.

Of particular note here, and captured for the time first ever, is the aforementioned "Vesper Psalms" from Viadana and Gabrieli's 28-voice "Magnificat", surrounded by lost treasures from the glorious period of multi-choir music. Revealing a majestic and intricate musical feast of kaleidoscopic colours for voices, brass, wind, strings, lutes and organs, Gabrieli's masterpiece has been painstakingly reconstructed by scholar Hugh Keyteto restoring the glory of its original seven-choirs for this world-premiere recording.