Album: Various Artists Sacred Baroque Masterpieces (Naïve)

For once, the apparent hyperbole is simple statement of fact: the four albums compiled together here are all indeed masterpieces of baroque music, delivered with grace and majesty by outstanding performers.

The serpentine acappella lines of Allegri's Miserere for nine voices are beautifully navigated by French choir A Sei Voci, while the quality of Rinaldo Alessandrini's reading of Monteverdi's Vespro Della Beata Vergine can be quickly gleaned from the way the ringing trumpets majestically enrobe the homophonal chant of the opening "Responsorium". But the most divine is surely Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano's comparison of the Stabat Mater of Scarlatti with that of Pergolesi which supplanted it.

Download: Stabat Mater; Miserere; Vespro Della Beata Vergine