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The Gardiner version is my favorite recording of this work, and - to be honest - one of my favorite records in general. I don't know if Gardiner's approach is the single best or most authentic view, but he certainly captures the facets of the piece with flair.

The trouble with dramatic performances of something known as "Monteverdi's Vespers" is that the piece doesn't exist. All the evidence points to this being a collection of music like the later Selva Morale e Spirituale, that can be picked from for performance. I suppose this might include performing everything if you could twist it into making some kind of liturgical sense, but the extravagant changes in instrumentation required would probably work against this in practice.

It seems that the most likely intention for the pieces from the collection were smaller scale chamber performances, so renditions such as those by Parrot, Junghanel and Alessandrini are the ones to go for if you want to hear what Monteverdi expected. While this doesn't rule against large scale church performances, which surely must also have happened with music of this quality, I still think the aggressive Gardiner performance with its less than clear acoustic, is not the best advertisement for this kind of approach.

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There is some kind of a loose organization among the pieces themselves, like psalm settings for 6 or 8 or 10 voices sandwiching sacred concerti (song of songs or free lyrics) for 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 voices. Yet it truly cannot be certained that whether this arrangement by the composers mean anything in performance as an assortment of other things, ie. magnificat, sonata, hymn, etc. exists side by side with the large group. Say, if Mahler did not specify his eighth symphony as such, wouldn't people nowadays perform the two parts, titled respectively as "Veni Creator Spiritus" and "Scenes from Faust," sometimes by themselves? I guess I agree with Zumaro that this is a collection of miscellanies with some deliberate ordering thrown in to make it look better in print.

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There is also Pickett who also recorded the piece firmly in the one-to-a-voice style, and it is not as bad as some think since early seventeenth century or before is obviously his forte compared to later baroque stuff. Gardiner's "gesamtkunstwerk"-ish approach to the work is appealing in its own way but Monteverdi's collection of vespers is really much more portable and flexible than any complete performance (especially those emphasizing - or exaggerating? - its monumental qualities) suggests.

The other point showing up the Vespers origin as a collection of pieces, is that it contains that archaic mass setting as well - the one that noone ever bothers to perform or record it seems. In this way the Vespers collection starts to resemble the Selva Morale e Spirituale even more closely as a showy compendium of what Monteverdi could do, although as you point out, if Monteverdi bothers to call his collection Vespers then there is probably more related about the pieces in it than the totally random Selva Morale.

Haven't heard the Pickett at all - but he usually has something interesting to say about a piece, even if you wonder at times what was the exact point!

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Speaking of which, I highly recommend the Cantus Cölln / Konrad Junghänel complete version of the Selva Morale e Spirituale on Harmonia Mundi.

http://harmoniamundi.com/usa/album_f...p?album_id=447

I agree about the Konrad Junghänel Selva Morale e Spirituale - like the Vespers this is a fantastic collection of pieces, and here it is very well performed as you might expect from his Vespers recording.

What other versions of the complete Selva are there? Apart from Junghänel I have only excerpt disks (King, Parrott and Cristi - all very good in their different ways), but I judge there must have been other complete recordings?

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Gabriel Garrido/ Ensemle Elyma (Ambronay AM001): 4 discs for the price of 3

Francois Lasserre/Academia/ La Fenice (Zig-zag Terretories ZZT 031101) 3 discs

Haven't heard either.

Cantus Coelln has gone back to the German repertories recently with their new recordings of Buxtehude (Membra Jesu Nostri) and Schutz (Symphoniae sacre III): any recommendations?

If Monteverdi recordings are thin on the ground then recordings of the large Schutz collections must happen only once a century! I have the Bernius Symphoniae Sacre III and also the Psalmen Davids, both of which are excellent in performance and recording. I guess I am heading out to the shops to pick up the new Junghanel.

Buxtehude - there seem to be so many excellent verions of that work if I read the reviews correctly. I only have the Christophers/Sixteen version which is excellent, and the old Gardiner version out on Archiv which I still like a great deal (to counterbalance my antipathy towards his Vespers recording!). What about the new Veldhoven/ Netherlands Bach Society version - I see it is out but havent heard it or seen it reviewed.

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I have the Junghanel Psalmen Davids but am not terribly fond of the recording as a whole. Don't know why exactly but it may have something to do with the extremely disciplined or over-trained quality of their singing, as I read someone put it. I might try their Buxtehude first (after all Gardiner didn't use one vocalist per part) before a return to their Schutz.

I would go for the Junghanel in Buxtehude just to try it out! I have no good reason for liking the Gardiner except the performance is relatively sensitive, but even then its not as good as Christopher's.

Hadn't heard Junghanel in the Psalmen Davids, so I was interested to hear your opinion. I really do like Bernius in Schutz - he might be relatively large scale using a choir (probably what Schutz intended in this case), but he really conveys the spirit of this magnificent music, with top class singing and playing. I suppose I am stating the obvious but anyone wanting to go on from the Vespers should check out Schutz, who is Monteverdi's most talented and enjoyable contemporary.

So does anyone have this, then?
http://harmoniamundi.com/usa/album_f...p?album_id=976

Thats the Junghanel we are talking about, and I would like to know how it compares to the Bernius version that I do have. So who is first to buy it .....

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I will buy it, but then I don't have the Bernius (or any other Symphoniae
Sacre III) to compare with

Well I went out earlier today to pick up the only copy in store of
Schutz Symphoniae sacrae III by Junghanel and a Scarlatti disc for
Bunnyears. I had other choices to spend my music money on (we all
do, don't we? ) but decided to try this out, in part to restore my
confidence in these performers performing Schutz's music. I have
their Psalmen Davids and am not too impressed with it. I still can't quite
figure out my disappointment with this older recording - perhaps
it's the performances being too straightjacketed or the music not
being expressive enough (Schutz's music can be challengingly
inward though). But the new Symphoniae Sacrae III has been
delightful so far once beyond the first track: more florid and varied
writing for voices and instrumental choirs shows up in the following
numbers, as if the aged composer had finally recognized that the
Thirty-Year War was over and was able to embrace a more
celebratory mood. Or it could just be Junghanel and his
singers have become more relaxed this time round to give
a freer rein of their artistry. Either way, the listening has been
an involving experience and continues to be so (I am only
half way through the set). I think I will recommend this purchase
to others interested in the repertory.

ps. I cannot but think that a SACD version of this recording
will eventually show up. This is stuff that multi-channel
formats were invented for.

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OK - it's ordered!