Sacred Works

In his sacred music Vivaldi uses a heartfelt, ethereal language, which is never dull, but subtly ironical and at times even impassionedWhen Vivaldi wants to get a message over, he just ignores technical and practical requirements, be they vocal or instrumental: the treacherous tirade of semi-chromes in the soprano part of the Amen in RV 601, or the instrumental accompaniment to Suscitans in the Laudate pueri are examples of this. The amazing thing is that Vivaldian projects are always a success, even if they are difficult to realize: this is what makes Vivaldi a great composer of sacred music, whatever Tartini had to say about him. Besides, there are those who criticise Sibelius when they realise how much they will have to practise to play the third movement of his violin concerto…. Vivaldi always composed his music for specific occasions and he probably realised that he could trust his favourite musicians at the Pietà: this is no doubt the reason why all his introductions are for female voices – soprano and contralto. But in this recording we have chosen to disregard the historical details and entrust the contralto role to Roberto Balconi, who has a particular feeling for the text and its importance, even though, as in this case, the Latin is not particularly inspiring.