Claudio Monteverdi - Vespro della beata Vergine(1610)

This ground-breaking and iconic performance of Monteverdi's sacred masterwork, conducted by (now Sir) John Eliot Gardiner using a superlative team of musicians, re-established the Vespers in the cultural awareness of 20th century Britain and rehabilitated Monteverdi's standing in musical history. It was recorded and filmed on location in the Basilica si San Marco, Venezia (St Mark's Basilica, Venice) - the very building in which Monteverdi worked for the last thirty years of his life. The building's rich Byzantine architecture, its astonishing gold mosaics and of course its dream-like acoustics make it surely the most evocative setting possible for this music. John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir, The London Oratory Junior Choir, His Majesties Sagbutts and Cornetts and the English Baroque Soloists.