A Mass for the Nativity of John the Baptist

Claudio Monteverdi is best known as a champion of the new style that was emerging in Italy during the early years of the 17th century. In Monteverdi's religious music this is represented by some spectacular settings in which virtuoso writing for voices and instruments is combined with a bold and dramatic approach to word setting. But Monteverdi also appreciated the beauty of high Renaissance polyphony and in his mass settings he shows himself to have been as much a master of the old style as he was a brilliant exponent of the avant garde. One of the masses published in Monteverdi's 1641 collection Selva Morale e Spirituale alternates between the conservative and the modern styles, combining the sensual beauty of polyphony with the brilliance of concertato writing for voices and instruments. In this performance, music associated with the liturgy for the feast of St John the Baptist is used to provide a context for this remarkable mass setting. And, following the Venetian practice of the time, instrumental sonatas and solo motets are used at appropriate points. The result is extraordinarily rich and varied.

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