Monteverdi Vespers 1610
Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum : The Centre Hall
Saturday, 28 April 2012, 8pm
Monteverdi’s glorious Vespers were not written for Venice, but they have become inextricably linked with Basilica of San Marco – the church where Monteverdi directed the music for so many years. Famously, the many balconies and organ lofts of San Marco allowed Monteverdi to execute all kinds of spatial effects by placing musicians in different parts of the building. John Butt will take full advantage of the spaces in Kelvingrove to replicate his special effects.
The programme is complemented by a new commission by William Sweeney based on a poem by Brian Merriman. 'The Midnight Court' is intended as a companion piece for the Monteverdi Vespers in the vocal and instrumental version being prepared by the Dunedin Consort and uses similar forces. Merriman's work, while at first seeming a strange choice, as an intensely secular work, will nevertheless function as more than a foil to the spirituality of the Monteverdi. Its earthiness and immediacy celebrates moral values and honours the human spirit.
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