Thomas Wikman Reviews
'Vespers of the Blessed Virgin'
Chicago Tribune Wednesday, March 26, 1998
by Andrew Patner
Music of the Baroque
8 tonight and 3 p.m. Saturday,
Divine Word Chapel, 2001 N. Waukegan, Techny,
3 p.m. Sunday, St. Mary of Perpetual
Help, 1039 W. 32nd,
Tickets, $18-$45. (312) 551-1414
Highly recommended
Least heard among the
sacred choral masterpieces, Monteverdi's
"Vespers
of the Blessed Virgin" (1610) more
than holds its own
with the more familiar works of Bach,
Brahms and Verdi.
Music of the Baroque is one of the
few American ensembles with the talent
and expertise to pull
off this complex 100-minute score; after
giving the Vespers its centuries-belated
Chicago premiere in 1976, MOB has
offered it several times since, though
not for 15 years.
Its current performances are
therefore cause for celebration.
Monday night's concert in the Bavarian
baroque splendor of St. Michael's Church
in Old Town was
confirmation of the skill that this
orchestra and chorus have displayed
throughout their 27 seasons.
Monteverdi was a pioneering composer
in the secular music of his day,
creating pathbreaking opera, ballet
and madrigal works. In its daring
combination of plainchant and part-singing,
along with instrumental accompaniment,
his Vespers strikes
the contemporary ear with its freshness
and poignancy.
