Magnificat Baroque Ensemble performs Vespro della Beata Vergine

* Notes * 
Magnificat Baroque Ensemble performed the Vespro della Beata Vergine at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco yesterday afternoon. The performers included ten singers and twelve instrumentalists. The tempi seemed a bit too measured and the sound was slightly hazy. Perhaps the music lacked clarity because the space is so large and irregular in shape. It was difficult to discern whether everyone was synchronized, but certainly the piece is quite beautiful and there was some gorgeous singing.

* Tattling * 
Axel Feldheim was nice enough to bring me to this performance, and his account of the work is probably more useful than mine, given that he read the score as it was being performed. The rest of the audience only whispered a bit, but a woman behind me was very confused about what Vespers are, what "Magnificat" signifies, and when the Baroque era was. Not only was she exceedingly surprised that there was singing involved in Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610, she excitedly exclaimed that they were performing "medieval music" during a quiet part near the beginning. Thankfully it only took one stare to silence her for the rest of the performance.