Laura Heimes, Jennifer Ellis Kampani, and John Taylor Ward singing with the Voices of Music instrumental ensemble, led from an organ keyboard by Hanneke van Proosdij
I had to wait until the end of the week; but, because this past Sundays at Ten video compiled by Voices of Music (VoM) presented songs by Claudio Monteverdi, I was determined to view and listen, even if it was later rather than sooner! Monteverdi was prolific in composing vocal music for both solo and group performances. This week’s video brought together excerpts from six different VoM programs; but I was particularly interested in the selection that featured two sopranos (Laura Heimes and Jennifer Ellis Kampani) and one baritone (John Taylor Ward).
I must confess that the entire program was new to me. (I am more familiar with the collection of Monteverdi’s madrigals.) All three of the vocalists shared only one of the selections on the program, “Cantate Domino.” The source was Monteverdi’s Libro primo de Motetti, which was published by Giulio Cesare Bianchi in 1620. The text itself mines passages from Psalms 95 and 97.
Watching these six videos reminded me of how seldom my encounters with Monteverdi has been in the recent past; but, to be frank, I find that I often feel this way about other composers after viewing other VoM videos!
