Monteverdi's brilliant sunshine cast a shadow over many of the composers of his time, especially those who hadn’t even written operas, as was the case for Alessandro Grandi. For a while Grandi worked with Monteverdi in Venice as Vice Maestro di Cappella, around 1620. He then settled down in Bergamo in 1627 where he held the position of Chapel Master but died from the plague soon after. Unlike Monteverdi, who published the Vespers as one complete work, Grandi published isolated editions in various collections. It must have taken angelic patience for the musicologist Rudolf Ewerhart to gather all the sources and to reconstitute a coherent work in honour of the Virgin Mary. As the various publications span from 1610 to 1630, these Vespers cover Grandi's entire creative period. However, many other composers who published complete works did not hesitate to recycle previous materials, even very old ones, so the principle is by no means dishonourable, nor is it musicologically questionable. Quite the contrary! The result of this admirable collation is a work of great stylistic cohesion, proving that Grandi developed his own writing style throughout his life. The Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart (founded in 1954 by Helmut Rilling) and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (founded by the same man a decade later to serve as the instrumental accompaniment for the choir) are brilliantly conducted here by Matthew Halls. © SM/Qobuz