Monteverdi: 'Vespers of 1610'
(Vespro della Beata Vergine)
There are many ways of performing this piece, yet the simplest approach - having a single singer or player on each part in the score - can be the most effective, and is likely to be the way Monteverdi conceived his vivid sound-world. Performed like this, the requirements are for ten voices and thirteen instruments, which include the colourful sounds of cornetts, sackbuts, lute and harp.
