Stabat mater. RV621 . Nisi Dominus, RV608. Concerto in G minor, RV1 53.

James Bowman (alto); Academy of Ancient Music / Christopher Hogwood

L'Oiseau-Lyre Florilegium 414 329.20H. Notes, text and translation included. Digitally remastered from DLSO506 (2/77).

This has always struck my Gramophone colleagues and myself as a curious piece of casting, since almost without question Vivaldi wrote both the sacred works here for a female soloist at the Pietà, where he was maestro di violino; and though James Bowman's performances are notable for their stylistic understanding, expressive shaping and skilful treatment of the florid lines of Nisi Dominus, his actual vocal quality is not to everyone's taste, and he fails to capture the warmth (and in the outer parts of the register the sonority) of a contralto. Helen Watts illustrates the difference in her Erato LP recording of Nisi Dominus, but her CBS Stabat mater (again on LP) is no longer available and was insensitively accompanied. In both works, however, Bowman has the inestimable advantage of splendid support from Hogwood's AAM in its best form; and it displays equal vitality in the sinfonia-like concerto without soloists. The recording is excellent.

Lionel Salter