Monteverdi: The Sacred Music, Volume 4: THE KING'S CONSORT / ROBERT KING

It has been almost a year since the last release in this series, but from the very first bar of the Laetatus sum setting which opens this new volume the wait seems to have been worth it: over a swaggering bass ostinato Monteverdi weaves an exuberant array of melodies—with widely contrasted instruments and voices—to draw us once more into the world of Venetian extravagance.

The programme continues with a range of motets, the forces called upon varying from solo voice in the declamatory Salve Regina to multiple soloists and polychoral opulence in the Beatus vir setting.

1 Laetatus sum I[6'37]
King's Consort Choir, Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Rebecca Outram (soprano), Charles Daniels (tenor), James Gilchrist (tenor), Peter Harvey (bass), Robert Evans (bass)
2 Salve regina 1625[4'20]
Charles Daniels (tenor)
3 Domine, ne in furore 1620[2'45]
King's Consort Choir
4 Salve regina I 1640[8'39]
James Gilchrist (tenor), Charles Daniels (tenor)
5 Dixit Dominus II 1650[5'26]
King's Consort Choir
6 Sanctorum meritis II 1641[3'20]
Charles Daniels (tenor)
7 Adoramus te Christe SV289[4'35]
King's Consort Choir
8 Beatus vir 1650[8'19]
Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Rebecca Outram (soprano), Cecilia Osmond (soprano), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), James Gilchrist (tenor), Charles Daniels (tenor), Peter Harvey (bass)
9 Exulta, filia Sion[5'07]
James Gilchrist (tenor)
10 Magnificat II 1640[9'26]
King's Consort Choir
11 Salve, o regina, o mater[5'00]
James Gilchrist (tenor)
12 Laudate Dominum omnes gentes III 1640[4'27]
Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Rebecca Outram (soprano), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Daniel Auchincloss (tenor), Charles Daniels (tenor), James Gilchrist (tenor), Robert Evans (bass), Peter Harvey (bass)