Carlos Mena: Vespro a voce sola

Years from now will the latter 20th/early 21st century be known as the era of the countertenor? A good case could be made for such a prediction, and you can add Spanish countertenor Carlos Mena's name (and voice) to the current list of first-rate practitioners of this vocal art, which was nearly lost and forgotten until its revival in the 1950s. It seems that you can't find a recording of Renaissance or Baroque vocal music these days that doesn't include at least one countertenor--an invariably excellent countertenor at that. Even many among the new generation of female altos seem to be tailoring their sound to conform to the current countertenor vogue. The program at hand is definitely not for all tastes--it's a "reconstruction of a vesper service for the feast of St. John the Baptist" drawn from Venetian manuscripts published in the first half of the 17th century. It's almost entirely for solo voice and a particular configuration of instruments, primarily cornetts and/or violins with continuo. The music certainly isn't too shabby--Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, and Banchieri make significant contributions--and even the lesser known composers show their facility for vocal writing, especially effective in the case of Cozzolani's Laudate Dominum and Bovicelli's Magnificat. Mena has an easy, smooth technique and a bright yet eminently sweet and agreeable tone as well as a total command of the repertoire. He's accompanied by solid, sympathetic instrumental partners who add appropriate color and essential foundation to the varied melodies. The sound is excellent. --

Orazio Tarditi
Domine ad adjuvandum me
Antiphona prima: Ipse praeibit (cantus plane)

Adriano Banchieri
Dixit Dominus (alternatim canto gregoriano e canto figurato)

Girolamo Frescobaldi
Canzon: la Bernardinia per cornetto e basso (in loco repetitur antiphonae)
Antiphona secunda: Joannes est nomen ejus

Alessandro Grandi
Confitebor tibi Domine , con sinfonie

Claudio Monteverdi
Motetto (in loco repetitur antiphonae): Cantate Domino a due canti , cornetti muti

Antiphona tertia: Ex utero senectutis
Orazio Tarditi
Beatus vir qui timet Dominum (sopra fuggi)

Biagio Marini
Sonata sopra fuggi da lieti amanti (id est beatus vir)
Antiphona quarta: Iste puer magnus

Tarquinio Merula
Laudate Pueri , con ritornelli

Giovanni Legrenzi
Sonata (in loco repetitur antiphonae): La Buscha a 6, per 2 cornetti e fagotto, 2 violini e violone
Antiphona quinta: Inter natos mulierum

Donna Marguerita Chiara Cozzolani
Laudate Dominum

Andrea Falconieri
Ciaccona a 3 (in loco repetitur antiphonae)

Girolamo Frescobaldi
Cappricio sopra Ut re mi fa sol la (organo solo)

Claudio Monteverdi
Ut queant laxis, hymnus sancti Joannnis (canto gregoriano, e canto figurato)

Girolamo Frescobaldi
Cappricio sopra La sol fa mi ré ut
Antiphona ad Magnificat: Ingresso Zacharia

Giovanni Battista Bovicelli
Magnificat anima mea , falso bordone con passagi, in alternatim