Vivaldi, Mozart, Handel - Dixit Dominus

The Guardian 40

La Capella Reial de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations/Savall
(Alia Vox)

Jordi Savall’s ingenious programmes often make unusual juxtapositions: here he brings together three settings of the same Vespers psalm, Dixit Dominus. But who influenced who? Though Vivaldi was older than Handel, Handel’s youthful masterpiece is earlier, dating from his Italian years, around 1707. Vivaldi’s setting has some original moments, especially the solo-trumpet Judicabit, but is not top-notch; Handel’s blazes with imaginative invention and pictorial passion. There’s ethereal duetting from two sopranos in De torrente, but the enthusiastic choral singing is ragged around the edges. Mozart’s later setting, though baroque in parts, doesn’t really fit here. Good for a live concert recording, but would you listen to it often?