Compilation albums are rarely worth mentioning. But Splendore a Venezia, released today by Montreal label ATMA Classique is the exception. It is so well put together that it deserves the attention of a major new release.
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
The album is a companion to a show opening today and running to Jan. 19 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The show’s subtitle provides the reason why: “Art and Music from the Renaissance to Baroque in Venice.”
Since the opening of Salle Bourgie in the former Erskine and American Church across the street from the museum two seasons ago, the Montreal art institution has added music to its list of curatorial options. And since Splendore a Venezia was entirely conceived in Montreal, it made sense that the city-state that gave us Tiepolo, Titian and Tintoretto also be honoured for its spectacular music by Monteverdi, Gabrielli, Vivaldi and many others.
There are few instances in the Common Era where wealth, art, music and driving ambition have become so concentrated in one time and place that they have been able to give birth to new ways of doing things as dramatically as in the Venice (I like to call it Doge City) of the 18th century.
John Ruskin’s classic mid-19th century study, The Stones of Venice is richly detailed but eerily silent. Montreal’s 21st century Splendore a Venezia is meant to be alive with the sounds of the opera house, pallazzo, and cathedral dome.
The curators have assembled their visuals from 61 international museums and collections. Thanks to Montreal’s vibrant Baroque and Early Music communities and ATMA’s leadership in making sure these people and ensembles have been allowed to shine on disc, there was a lot of made-in-Canada music to choose from.
The album, available everywhere, unfolds like a best-of not only Venice of the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries, with the help of our most talented musicians.
We get gorgeous opera arias, concertos, madrigals, sonatas, motets and various chamber-music formations that highlights the many facets of Venetian musical life private and public.
There are many treats from this who’s-who collection, including Israeli mezzo Rinat Shaham (a spectacular substitute Carmen at the Canadian Opera Company a couple of seasons ago) in cantata-style sacred settings by Benedetto Marcello, and an opportunity to once again experience the gorgeous artistry of oboist Washington McClain (who died unexpectedly last year) in an album-opening concerto by Antonio Vivaldi.
The music has made me promise myself that I will go see the show in Montreal. Conversely, I suspect many people who go see the show might end up discovering the seductive power of La Serenissima’s aural treasures, as well.
Because shuffling digital music files is so easy, we’ve all become music curators, and it’s become painfully clear that most commercial compilation albums are quick and sloppy attempts to squeeze some extra cash out of a dust-gathering backlist. Unlike those duds, this ATMA album has the pace, freshness and cohesion of a fine concert.
You can find all the details on the show here — and on the album here.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
