CD-Charts Position 1
Average Rating:

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 2
Average Rating:

Che soave armonia: Monteverdi and More

from: Challenge

Release Date February 05, 2002
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 3
Average Rating:

Heinichen: Dresden Concerti Highlights

from: Polygram Records

Release Date March 15, 1994
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
Average Rating:

Rigatti: 1640 Venetian Mass

from: Analekta

Release Date April 06, 2007
Prior to purchasing this record, I didn't have any clue as to the quality of the Vancouver cantata singers, so what made me buy this was solely my enthusiasm for Rigatti's work (as well as the works of his post-Monteverdi contemporaries, such as Rovetta and Cavalli.)
As noted by reviewer Matthew Westphal, the choir is rather large; the solo voices, as well as ripieni forces, do however meet the requirements for this sophisticatede music, at a more moderate level than, say, the Gabrieli consort & players in their
wonderfull Venetian Vespers recording.
Thus, if you're curious to hear this mass by a somewhat neglected, but great master, then do not hesitate buying this: the performance, if not perfect, is good enough.
The ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 5
Average Rating:

A Venetian Vespers of 1640

from: Skylark

Release Date July 13, 1999
Prior to purchasing this record, I didn't have any clue as to the quality of the Vancouver cantata singers, so what made me buy this was solely my enthusiasm for Rigatti's work (as well as the works of his post-Monteverdi contemporaries, such as Rovetta and Cavalli.)
As noted by reviewer Matthew Westphal, the choir is rather large; the solo voices, as well as ripieni forces, do however meet the requirements for this sophisticatede music, at a more moderate level than, say, the Gabrieli consort & players in their
wonderfull Venetian Vespers recording.
Thus, if you're curious to hear this mass by a somewhat neglected, but great master, then do not hesitate buying this: the performance, if not perfect, is good enough.
The ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 6
Average Rating:

Salve Regina, Sacred Music by Monteverdi and His Venetian Followers

from: Hyperion UK

Release Date April 10, 2001
This is an extraordinary recording of some of the music for solo voice from Italy in the first half of the 17th century. The composers represented are probably familiar to many early music lovers.

Robin Blaze is accompanied by a string ensemble & basso continuo group. Strings were popular at this time in Italy, although cornetts and sackbuts continued to be used in ceremonial and ecclesiastical music in Italy for the rest of the 17th century.

Whenever I play this CD at work, someone always comments upon it and wants it.

It is one of the best recordings Mr. Blaze has made. A fine achievement.

CD-Charts Position 7
Average Rating:

Per il Santissimo Natale

from: Ricercar

Release Date January 01, 2003
This is an extraordinary recording of some of the music for solo voice from Italy in the first half of the 17th century. The composers represented are probably familiar to many early music lovers.

Robin Blaze is accompanied by a string ensemble & basso continuo group. Strings were popular at this time in Italy, although cornetts and sackbuts continued to be used in ceremonial and ecclesiastical music in Italy for the rest of the 17th century.

Whenever I play this CD at work, someone always comments upon it and wants it.

It is one of the best recordings Mr. Blaze has made. A fine achievement.

CD-Charts Position 8
Average Rating:

The Heritage of Monteverdi Vol 5 / Kiehr, Van Laethem, et al

by: Orazio Tardidi, Guiseppe Scarani, Francesco Flamengo, Giovanni Rigatti, Maria Cristina Kiehr, Kathelijne van Laethem, John Elwes, Ensemble La Fenice

Release Date January 25, 1999
This is an extraordinary recording of some of the music for solo voice from Italy in the first half of the 17th century. The composers represented are probably familiar to many early music lovers.

Robin Blaze is accompanied by a string ensemble & basso continuo group. Strings were popular at this time in Italy, although cornetts and sackbuts continued to be used in ceremonial and ecclesiastical music in Italy for the rest of the 17th century.

Whenever I play this CD at work, someone always comments upon it and wants it.

It is one of the best recordings Mr. Blaze has made. A fine achievement.

CD-Charts Position 9
Average Rating:

Flos Florum, Italian Vespers in Bohemia

from: Panton

Release Date January 11, 2000
This is an extraordinary recording of some of the music for solo voice from Italy in the first half of the 17th century. The composers represented are probably familiar to many early music lovers.

Robin Blaze is accompanied by a string ensemble & basso continuo group. Strings were popular at this time in Italy, although cornetts and sackbuts continued to be used in ceremonial and ecclesiastical music in Italy for the rest of the 17th century.

Whenever I play this CD at work, someone always comments upon it and wants it.

It is one of the best recordings Mr. Blaze has made. A fine achievement.

CD-Charts Position 10
Average Rating:

The Songs of Solomon: Motets of the Italian Renaissance

from: 4000 Series

Release Date December 09, 1999
This is an extraordinary recording of some of the music for solo voice from Italy in the first half of the 17th century. The composers represented are probably familiar to many early music lovers.

Robin Blaze is accompanied by a string ensemble & basso continuo group. Strings were popular at this time in Italy, although cornetts and sackbuts continued to be used in ceremonial and ecclesiastical music in Italy for the rest of the 17th century.

Whenever I play this CD at work, someone always comments upon it and wants it.

It is one of the best recordings Mr. Blaze has made. A fine achievement.