VIVALDI: Magnificat and Gloria


Composer: Vivaldi
Conductor: Valentin Radu
Performer: AMA DEUS ENSEMBLE: Chorus & Period-Instrument Orchestra
Soloists: Julianne Baird, Georgeta Stoleriu, Lorie Gratis, OBOE: Sarah Davol, HARPSICHORD: Bronwyn Fix-Keller
Recorded: Fall 1996 in the Chapel at Valley Forge Military Academy, Wayne PA
Label: Newport Classic
Catalog #: NPD 85167
On-Line Price: $15

The master violinist Antonio Vivaldi, known as the Red Priest, left behind a trove of musical heritage of unmatched proportions both in the vocal as well as instrumental genres. Both of which are represented on this wonderful recording: the Magnificat is rarely performed and even more rarely recorded in its Venician version, as was the popular Gloria feature, in addition to the Baroque instrument orchestra, authentic performance practices of Vivaldi’s Venice masterfully performed by soprano Julianne Baird, mezzo-soprano Lorie Gratis and Romania’s “angel of the Baroque” Georgetta Stoleriu (a former colleague of Maestro Radu at the Academy of Music in Bucharest).

Intersperse between the two vocal masterpieces is a Concerto for two Baroque trumpets performed by top soloists, Thomas Freas and James Hamlin.