A cycle of the complete sacred works of a busy composer like Vivaldi is bound to include some of those ‘bits-and-pieces’ items that would not make it on to disc otherwise, and Volume 9 of Robert King’s series, mostly devoted to solo motets, has a couple of those in the strophic hymn Gaude mater ecclesia and an alternative version of the ‘Gloria patri’ written for the Laudate pueri which opens the programme. But with these two short pieces the dutiful stuff ends, because the remaining works on this latest instalment of a highly worthwhile project all deserve a hearing.

Ascende laeta is one of several so-called ‘introduzione’ that Vivaldi composed to precede Vespers psalms, and celebrates the Assumption as if Mary were a country lass spreading happiness through the hills and mountains (represented by appropriately rolling music) and inspiring the peasantry to dance, while a similar, typically Vivaldian bucolic atmosphere characterises Vos aurae per montes, written for the Feast of St Anthony of Padua. By contrast, the Salve regina is doleful and contrite. Most striking of all, however, is the 20-minute Laudate pueri, the least recorded of Vivaldi’s three settings of the psalm (the others have already appeared in the cycle), but on this evidence unjustifiably so. Set for two sopranos, each with an orchestra to herself and one with a choir as well, it is music with plenty to offer, from a buoyant opening and cheerful choral refrain, to a variety of solo movements which include a touchingly lilting vision of heaven, a meditative ‘Gloria patri’, and a gorgeous depiction of a sunrise.

The performances are well up to the standard set by earlier volumes, which has already brought us some excellent solo singing. Here the star is Carolyn Sampson, beautifully matched by Joanne Lunn in Laudate pueri, but also outstanding on her own in a radiantly virtuosic Vos aurae. Joyce DiDonato is a strong new presence in Ascende laeta (though her central recitative is surely too slow) and Susan Gritton does all that can be expected of anyone in the unexciting Gaude mater. Only Nathalie Stutzmann was a disappointment this time, responding well to text but sounding a touch lacklustre in the Salve regina. The orchestra and choir are bright and alert, and the recorded sound, as usual, gets it exactly right.