Nothing on the exterior packaging of this disc of Vivaldi choral works gives the potential buyer a clue as to the unusual quality of the performances of the celebrated Gloria, RV 589, the Magnificat, RV 610b, and other choral works contained therein. Conductor Andrew Parrott and his Taverner Choir and players set themselves the task of answering a puzzling question: given that these works were likely written for Vivaldi's all-girl choir at the Ospedale della Pietà, the orphanage where he served as music director, how were ...
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Nothing on the exterior packaging of this disc of Vivaldi choral works gives the potential buyer a clue as to the unusual quality of the performances of the celebrated Gloria, RV 589, the Magnificat, RV 610b, and other choral works contained therein. Conductor Andrew Parrott and his Taverner Choir and players set themselves the task of answering a puzzling question: given that these works were likely written for Vivaldi's all-girl choir at the Ospedale della Pietà, the orphanage where he served as music director, how were the tenor and bass parts performed? The girls were segregated from males, except for Vivaldi himself. The disc represents an attempt at an "authentic" reproduction of how the Ospedale choir sounded to its celebrated visitors, including the oversexed Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who apparently talked his way past the iron grillwork that separated the singers from the audience and wrote that he "felt a shiver of love such as I had never felt before." Rousseau and numerous other observers...
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