Album Description
Despite the popularity of Antonio Vivaldi's concertos and choral music, it is only in the past few years that his sacred motets for voice and ensemble have been played and recorded with the regularity that they deserve. The genre of the motet was very popular in Vivaldi's day, and it is likely that he composed a fairly large number of them. Unfortunately only 12 still survive and two of these are incomplete. Motets were first and foremost showpieces for specific singers. and it appears that several of Vivaldi's were written for his pupil Anna Girò. The practice of performing motets during Mass wasn't generally accepted and the ecclesiastical authorities tried to limit their performance. The structure is standardised. Every motet contains two arias, a recitative, and a closing 'alleluia'. The scoring is for solo voice, (soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto), strings and basso continuo.
The Canadian singer Suzie LeBlanc has established a very distinguished career in the performance of 17th and 18th century repertoire. She tours extensively with such groups as Teatro Lirico, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Tafelmusik, Musica Antiqua Koln. In the more intimate setting of chamber music, she sings regurlarly with Tragicomedia, Les Voix Humaines, the Purcell Quartet and Fretwork, and forms a duo with lutenist Stephen Stubbs, with whom she has recorded several discs including the 1st book of Airs de cour by Etienne Moulini (CBC Records), which received unanimous critical praise. Her impressive discography includes recordings of Bach Cantatas with Tafelmusik for Analekta, Love and Death in Venice with Teatro Lirico for Virgin Veritas, Vivaldi Motets with Teatro Lirico for Vanguard Classics, and two titles for Hyperion Records, Ivan Moody's Passion and Resurrection and Purcell's Hark how the wild musicians sing. Since January 1997 Suzie Le Blanc has recorded exclusively for Challenge Classics, for which company her first CD Amor Roma (CC72055) appeared in 1997.
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