CD-Charts Position 1
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Gabrieli · Monteverdi · Vivaldi - Venetian Church Music / Taverner Consort, Choir & Players · Andrew Parrott

by: Giovanni Gabrieli, Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, Dario Castello, Giovanni Legrenzi, Antonio Lotti, Alessandro Grandi, Andrew Parrott, Choir & Players Taverner Consort

Release Date October 09, 2001
An excellent compilation of early church music performed beautifully by the Taverner Consort, Choir, and Players, and conducted by Andrew Parrott. The recording is clear and the sound well balanced. It is also an exceptional value - 30 tracts (2 1/2 hours of music) on 2 CDs for less that $10.

CD-Charts Position 2
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Philippe Jaroussky - Beata Vergine

from: EMI Classics

Release Date May 15, 2006
Philippe Jaroussky teams up with Ensemble Artaserse to produce a jewel of an album of Italian Baroque motets to the Virgin Mary. Each one of these tracks is music rarely performed today. Listening is like finding a coin unexpectedly. Whether you think a certain piece is a penny, a nickel, a quarter or a golden doubloon may depend on ones mood, but it's nice to think that all these coins from the 17th century have been gathered up and kept safe for future ages. Few things are lovelier than a good countertenor voice floating over the violins. Philippe Jaroussky may be one of the great ones; he sounds like a fine boy soprano, but with the control and fire of an adult. If I said he sounded like crystal it wouldn't convey the tenderness of rose petals. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
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Venetian Vespers (Monteverdi * Rigatti * Grandi * Cavalli) /Gabrieli Consort & Players * McCreesh

by: Research Composer, Giovanni Antonio Rigatti, Alessandro Grandi, Claudio Monteverdi, Adriano Banchieri, Giacomo Finetti, Pietro Francesco Cavalli, Anonymous, Gregorian Chant, Biagio Marini, Gabrieli Consort, Charles Daniels, Paul McCreesh, Alison Wray, Jonathan Best, Tessa Bonner, Angus Smith, Peter Harvey, Robert Horn, Paula Chateauneuf, Timothy Roberts, Susan Hemington Jones, Fred Jacobs, Celia Harper, Charles Pott, Florian Deuter, Gabrieli Players

Release Date May 11, 1993
This really a fine recording. I bought my copy one sunny Saturday morning in Melbourne in around 1993. I saw it on the shelf and I got my wallet out. I was completely blown away by the music on this disc. Rigatti was a real discovery for me.

The use of high falsettists in the chorus and solos is particularly effective and gives us a real insight into the sounds of music in Venice in the early 17th century.

I cannot recommend this marvellous recording too highly, it is clearly one of the best made by the Gabrieli Consort, Choir & Players.

Great playing from the strings, cornetti and tromboni.

CD-Charts Position 4
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The Feast of San Rocco, Venice 1608

from: Sony

Release Date October 17, 1995
Just some comments on this recording: The Musica Fiata Koeln sound is pretty close to the sound I love in late renaissance sacred music. The brass players don't all constantly blend together as one homogeneous background sound; instead individual lines come in and out naturally helping to move the music along. I personally enjoy David Cordier's falsetto voice because of its distinct timbre adding flavor to the sound; just as I like the nasal timbre of the cornettos distinguishing themselves from the sackbutts.

The Cima pieces are all beautiful idyllic pieces and played with religious sincerely (the playing reminds me very much of Andrew Parrot's Monteverdi 1610 Vesper recording). A nice touch is the inclusion of a Gabrieli piece played on solo organ. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
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Il Pastor Fido [Deutsche Harmonia Mundi]

from: RCA

Release Date June 09, 1992
Just some comments on this recording: The Musica Fiata Koeln sound is pretty close to the sound I love in late renaissance sacred music. The brass players don't all constantly blend together as one homogeneous background sound; instead individual lines come in and out naturally helping to move the music along. I personally enjoy David Cordier's falsetto voice because of its distinct timbre adding flavor to the sound; just as I like the nasal timbre of the cornettos distinguishing themselves from the sackbutts.

The Cima pieces are all beautiful idyllic pieces and played with religious sincerely (the playing reminds me very much of Andrew Parrot's Monteverdi 1610 Vesper recording). A nice touch is the inclusion of a Gabrieli piece played on solo organ. ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
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San Marco 1527-1740

from: Gloria Dei Cantores

Release Date
Very nice performances, with clean crisp articulation and generally good sound. My only quibble is with the tempo of the Andrea Gabrieli Magnificat -- it seems a bit too brisk to me, given the space in which it would have been performed and the likely distance between the three choirs in San Marco, an effect which I believe Gloriae Dei Cantores is trying to replicate. There were times when the sound became "muddy," and a slower tempo would have mitigated that effect. Some might also argue with doubling the TTBB choir with low brass instruments (with no other doubling in the piece), but that's really a matter of personal taste. Gabrieli would have used whatever he had on hand, so if all he had were sackbuts, sackbuts he would have used.

This is a good ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
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Alessandro Grandi: Vulnerasti Cor Meum

from: Deutsche Harm Mundi

Release Date July 19, 2002
What a fabulous line up of singers and musicians!
The singers:
Elisabeth Scholl (Andy's sis)
Maria Cristina Kiehr (yes, her! you know what to do!)
René Jacobs (one of his last recordings as a singer)
Andreas Scholl (one of his first recordings)
Gerd Türk (all early music lovers should know him)

The players:
Jean Tubery - cornetto
William Dongois - cornetto

There are other singers and musicians on this disc, but the aforementioned names should be enough to convince you of the worth of this disc.

Alessandro Grandi's music isn't performed very often. He was and is somewhat in the shadow of Giovanni Gabrieli and then Claudio Monteverdi. Yet he was a great composer and singer.
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CD-Charts Position 8
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La Bella Noeva

from: Alpha Productions

Release Date July 20, 2004
What a fabulous line up of singers and musicians!
The singers:
Elisabeth Scholl (Andy's sis)
Maria Cristina Kiehr (yes, her! you know what to do!)
René Jacobs (one of his last recordings as a singer)
Andreas Scholl (one of his first recordings)
Gerd Türk (all early music lovers should know him)

The players:
Jean Tubery - cornetto
William Dongois - cornetto

There are other singers and musicians on this disc, but the aforementioned names should be enough to convince you of the worth of this disc.

Alessandro Grandi's music isn't performed very often. He was and is somewhat in the shadow of Giovanni Gabrieli and then Claudio Monteverdi. Yet he was a great composer and singer.
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CD-Charts Position 9
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Music for San Marco in Venice

from: Deutsche Harm Mundi

Release Date May 07, 2001
What a fabulous line up of singers and musicians!
The singers:
Elisabeth Scholl (Andy's sis)
Maria Cristina Kiehr (yes, her! you know what to do!)
René Jacobs (one of his last recordings as a singer)
Andreas Scholl (one of his first recordings)
Gerd Türk (all early music lovers should know him)

The players:
Jean Tubery - cornetto
William Dongois - cornetto

There are other singers and musicians on this disc, but the aforementioned names should be enough to convince you of the worth of this disc.

Alessandro Grandi's music isn't performed very often. He was and is somewhat in the shadow of Giovanni Gabrieli and then Claudio Monteverdi. Yet he was a great composer and singer.
Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

La Bella Noeva

from: Alpha

Release Date January 01, 2003
What a fabulous line up of singers and musicians!
The singers:
Elisabeth Scholl (Andy's sis)
Maria Cristina Kiehr (yes, her! you know what to do!)
René Jacobs (one of his last recordings as a singer)
Andreas Scholl (one of his first recordings)
Gerd Türk (all early music lovers should know him)

The players:
Jean Tubery - cornetto
William Dongois - cornetto

There are other singers and musicians on this disc, but the aforementioned names should be enough to convince you of the worth of this disc.

Alessandro Grandi's music isn't performed very often. He was and is somewhat in the shadow of Giovanni Gabrieli and then Claudio Monteverdi. Yet he was a great composer and singer.
Read More: