Benedetto Marcello : Psalms

Album review

A near contemporary of Bach and Vivaldi, Benedetto Marcello was arguably as well-known as either of those giants during his own lifetime. The group of 50 psalm settings from which the four psalms here are excerpted -- unlike anything by Bach or Vivaldi -- appeared after the psalms' publication in translations into German, French, Swedish, and Russian, in addition to the English version here issued in 1757, and they have the added interest of having been used in Jewish as well as Christian settings. They're sizable pieces in the grand mid-Baroque sacred manner, certainly not with Vivaldi's new preponderance of melody, but with a good deal of ingenuity in the relationships among the solo parts and that between soloists and ensemble. The British group Voces8 is underpowered for this music, but with the soloists, especially the hot countertenor Barnaby Smith, the news is all good, and the group cleanly executes the difficult "Canon triplex" that closes the program. The biggest novelty is that what's recorded here is not the original Marcello versions of these pieces from the mid-1720s, but an English adaptation made by Charles Avison in 1757. This certainly helps to demonstrate Marcello's renown, but it may be of greater interest to enthusiasts of the English Baroque than to casual listeners. With fine instrumental work by Smith's ensemble Les Inventions, these handsome works are worth a new listen. Marcello is to Vivaldi, perhaps, as Buxtehude is to Bach.
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