25 February 2012

How do you like your Vivaldi served?

Sometimes I discover a piece of music and wonder how I could have spent my whole life without hearing it before. Take, for example, this piece by Vivaldi, "Cum Dederit", from his setting of Psalm 127 (Nisi dominus, RV 608) sung here by counter tenor Bruno Le Levreur*:


I'm also sometimes surprised at how different the a piece of music can sound when conducted by different people. Here's another version of the same piece, conducted and sung by Polish conductor and counter-tenor Jakub Bryzinski:

Which do you prefer? (More on the words later).

  *Note: I originally had a clip of Carlos Mena singing the same piece, but it seems to have been taken down from YouTube. You could try searching for it. Also check out Sara Mingardo singing the same piece - all so different, all lovely.

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