Twenty years after it was first released by Archiv in 1987,
Trevor Pinnock and the English Consort's coupling of
Vivaldi's Gloria and Scarlatti's Dixit Dominus still sounds new, vital, and even contemporary in this 2007 reissue.
Pinnock's tempos are lively, his lines clean, his textures clear, and his rhythms crisp. The English Consort's playing is light, tight, suave, supple, and, when the piece calls for it, powerful. The Choir of the English Consort's singing is sensitive, strong, and excellently enunciated. Soprano
Nancy Argenta is a standout among the singers, and the instrumental soloists, especially clarion trumpeter
Crispian Steele-Perkins, are uniformly strong. Archiv's early digital sound was bright, deep, and detailed when it was first released, and because this is an un-remastered reissue of the same disc, it remains the same. If you want to hear a coupling of
Vivaldi's Gloria and Scarlatti's Dixit Dominus,
Pinnock's was then and remains now a fine first choice.