Monteverdi: Vespers of 1610 (Vespro della Beata Vergine);

This performance of Monteverdi's extraordinary collection of sacred music, which received a 1999 Grammy nomination, has its good points, but it can't really be considered best even in its class. Martin Pearlman leads a relatively large-scale performance, using a 30-member chorus (often doubled by instruments) throughout; he adds some plainchant before the Psalms; he takes the Lauda Jerusalem and Magnificat at high pitch. The instrumentalists play their difficult parts quite creditably, and Pearlman takes some exciting tempos. Unfortunately, his chorus can't always keep up with him: they often sound muddy and, in fast passages, sometimes downright sloppy. The soprano soloists sing attractively but with wider vibratos than ideal for this music; the tenors, however, are very good indeed, with Richard Croft's heartfelt, sensitively embellished, beautifully modulated singing deserving an award for Best Performance of Monteverdi by a Mainstream Opera Singer. If you want a full-scale choral performance, though, you'll do better with that of René Jacobs or William Christie, and Andrew Parrott's reconstruction of a Vespers service (done mostly one-singer-per-part) is not to be missed. --Matthew Westphal