Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri / Giulio Prandi

Vivaldi is more than his Four Seasons. Alongside his famous worldly music, the composer reaches for the divine in his vocal work, without losing his typical expressivity in the process. In fact, his sacred pieces are sometimes described as a ‘concerto for the voice’ thanks to their lively vocal lines. In his era, the Dixit Dominus and the Magnificat were equally, if not more, well-known than the string piece with which he is identified.

So it’s high time this majestic music was put in the spotlight. For the past twenty years, the Coro e Orchestra Ghislieri from the Italian conductor Giulio Prandi has specialised in lesser-known archive pieces from the 18th century high baroque. After gems by Pergolesi, in recent years he has increasingly focused on Vivaldi. At the most recent Ambronay festival, he certainly proved that they have dusted off this underappreciated oeuvre with good reason.