Estro poetico-armonico : psalms Nos. 10, 40, 44, 47

“The Michelangelo of music.”

Venice in the early 18th century: two men shared the limelight on the musical stage. But history honours only one of them, the “red priest” whose success was, however, not as enduring as the reputation of the other. There is a world of difference between Vivaldi and Benedetto Marcello, who spent his life in high offices in the administration of the Venetian Republic. This nobile dilettante did not need to please, which probably explains the extraordinary originality of his style. At a time when the words had long since been subordinate to the music, Marcello applied himself to serving the words, especially when these were derived from biblical sources, like the Psalms of David. They are gathered together in a monumental collection aptly entitled Estro poetico-armonico: eight volumes that crowned his career, and of which five of the most representative excerpts may be heard on this record.