Vivaldi: Gloria in D Major, RV 589 / Ascende laeta, RV 635 / Dixit Dominus, RV 594 Sara Mingardo

• 1 Gloria in excelsis Deo (Chorus) 02:10
• 2 Et in terra pax (Chorus) 03:28
• 3 Laudamus te (Soprano duet) 01:57
• 4 Gratias agimus tibi (Chorus) 01:26
• 5 Domine deus, Rex caelestis (Soprano) 04:30
• 6 Domine Fili unigenite (Chorus) 02:07
• 7 Domine Deus, Agnus Dei (Alto, Chorus) 04:39
• 8 Qui tollis peccata mundi (Chorus) 00:53
• 9 Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris (Alto) 02:05
• 10 Quoniam tu solus Sanctus (Chorus) 00:43
• 11 Cum Sancto Spiritu (Chorus) 03:11
• 12 Aria: Ostro picta, armata spina 02:49
• 13 Recitative: Sic transit vana et brevis gloria mundi 00:55
• 14 Aria: Linguis favete 02:50
• 15 Aria: Ascende laeta 04:09
• 16 Recitativo: Quam pulchri, quam formosi 00:36
• 17 Aria: Sternite, Angeli 03:14
• 18 Dixit Dominus (Chorus) 02:00
• 19 Donec ponam (Chorus) 04:31
• 20 Virgam virtutis (Soprano duet) 02:06
• 21 Tecum principium (Alto) 02:55
• 22 Juravit Dominus (Chorus) 02:36
• 23 Dominus a dextris tuis (Tenor, Bass) 01:52
• 24 Judicabit in nationibus (Chorus) 03:18
• 25 De torrente in via (Soprano) 02:51
• 26 Gloria Patri (Chorus) 01:14
• 27 Sicut erat in principio (Chorus) 02:39
• Total Runtime 01:07:44

Info for Vivaldi: Gloria in D Major, RV 589 / Ascende laeta, RV 635 / Dixit Dominus, RV 594

Rinaldo Alessandrini’s rapport with this music borders on the love affair. We have him and his Concerto Italiano to thank for the triumphant return of these works to the concert platform, radiant and rejuvenated 300 years after they were first performed: using his expertise in the vocal parts as a guideline for his instrumental direction, the Italian conductor and harpsichordist, a pioneer in his home country since the 1980s, is an unstinting advocate of legibility, a dynamic of conviction, and stunning sensuality. Diapason praised: “A frank, vigorous mixed-voice approach with flawless tempi, making marvellous use of the sumptuous trumpets, colouring the energetic strings”.

Gemma Bertagnoli, soprano
Sara Mingardo, contralto
Concerto Italiano
Rinaldo Alessandrini, conductor

Sara Mingardo
Italian singer Sara Mingardo is considered among the more important contraltos of her generation. Her repertory is broad, encompassing works by composers from Monteverdi to Britten, though she has scored some of her greatest successes in operas and sacred music of the Baroque. Mingardo was born in the Venetian suburb of Mestre. Though she displayed musical talent early on, she did not develop quickly: after studies in Venice at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory and in Siena at the Academia Chigiana, she made her official operatic debut in Italy only in 1987, in Cimarosa's Il matrimonio segreto, singing Fidalma. Following that success she sang Cinderella in the eponymous Rossini opera, in Treviso and Rovigo, in 1988. It was in that Treviso effort that she won first prize in the annual Toti Dal Monte competition. Her other competition successes include the Giulietta Simionato Prize at the 23rd Vienna Competition. While most of Mingardo's appearances up to 1989 were at second-tier operatic venues, she began making her breakthrough at the major sites in Italy thereafter, including La Scala and San Carlo. In 1995 she made her first recording (on Polygram Records), singing the title character in Handel's Riccardo Primo, led by Christophe Rousset. This followed her official international debut in that role, in Fontevraud, France. She reprised this same role later on at the International Festival of Baroque Music in Bonn and at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. After that 1995 French debut, she appeared regularly at numerous other major international locales: under Claudio Abbado, she sang Emilia in Verdi's Otello at the 1996 Salzburg Festival. Her U.S. debut was at the 2000 Santa Fe Opera Festival production of Rossini's Ermione, where she sang Anromaca. Mingardo has developed a strong international following over the years and has thus been in demand on recordings. Two solo albums appeared in 2003 and 2004, respectively, on the Opus III label. The first, titled Sara Mingardo, featured works by Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Scarlatti, and Handel, and the second, works by Monteverdi, Vivaldi, Handel, and others. Other recordings include Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, Vivaldi's Stabat Mater and Armida, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, and Verdi's Falstaff. Her 2002 recording of Berlioz's Les Troyens won a Gramophone Award and Grammy Awards for Best Opera Recording and Best Classical Album.

Sara Mingardo (born 2 March 1961) is an Italian classical contralto who has had an active international career in concerts and operas since the 1980s. Her complete recording of Anna in Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens won a Gramophone Award and both the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording and the Grammy Award for Best Classical Album in 2002. Some of the other roles she has performed on stage or on disc include Andronico in Tamerlano, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, and the title roles in Carmen, Giulio Cesare, Riccardo Primo, and Rinaldo. She has also recorded several Vivaldi cantatas, Bach cantatas, and such concert works as Mozart's Requiem, Rossini's Stabat Mater, and Vivaldi's Gloria among others.

This album contains no booklet.