Monteverdi: Vespro della beata Vergine [Vespers of 1610]

"Apollo's Fire is the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, performing on period instruments and Apollo's Singers is its 19 strong professional chamber mixed chorus (3 cantus, 3 sextus, 4 altos, 3 tenors, 3 quintus, 3 basses). Except for one treble, the soloists on this recording all come from this chorus. Sorrell's is an eclectic Vespers in which there's never a dull moment. The instrumentation is the fullest, the playing the most high spirited I've ever heard. It has great spontaneity, as does the singing. Sorrell's account also vividly conveys the meditative aspects and succeeds in integrating the antiphons of the liturgical context."
(MusicWeb Jan 2011)

"This is a performance that is light on its feet and, without descending into mannerism, enjoys the rhetorical detail in Monteverdi's word-setting. The choral chanting in the "Dixit Dominus" and the batted double-choir alternations of the "Nisi Dominus" are fast and fiery, but at other times there is great tenderness and reverence. The solos, too, are often ardently responsive to the text."
(Gramophone Jan 2011)

Apollo's Fire and founder/conductor Jeannette Sorrell release one of their signature pieces, Monteverdi's Vespers, as a tribute to the work's 400th anniversary and in anticipation of their seven-city tour in October 2010.

The Cleveland-based baroque orchestra Apollo's Fire, together with founder / conductor Jeannette Sorrell, launched on Avie in July 2010 with a double release featuring discs of Mozart and J.S. Bach. They follow with their tribute to the 400th anniversary year of Monteverdi's seminal Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, released in anticipation of the group's first European tour which culminates with their Wigmore Hall debut on 30 November. Vespers has been a signature piece for Apollo's Fire for over ten years, and it's fitting for Sorrell and her vibrant band to bring this magnificent masterwork to wider audiences through this recording.