Try to imagine a world without the Vivaldi Gloria. In fact, imagine never having heard any sacred music by Vivaldi. Just 100 years ago, no one even knew of the existence of any Vivaldi church music. Then in 1926, from a monastery just outside Turin in Italy, came a revelation as extraordinary for music as the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb: a crate of 300 Vivaldi manuscripts, including no fewer than 50 sacred works.

Although everyone can hum along to Vivaldi’s Gloria, this 11CD set offers jewels beyond count such as Beatus vir, a Stabat mater, a Dixit Dominus and myriad other brilliant Baroque jewels ready to be discovered. This landmark set means there is no further excuse.

The choir and soloists are a veritable ‘who’s who’ of Baroque performance both now and in the recent past—Joyce DiDonato, Charles Daniels, Nathalie Stutzmann, Carolyn Sampson, Robin Blaze, James Bowman, Susan Gritton, Sarah Connolly, Neal Davies and more. Expense was never spared.

This collection sheds light on Vivaldi’s great diversity of styles and instrumentation. Many of the composer’s earliest and final works appear to have been written with the all-female forces of the Pietà in mind. Other works dating from a ‘middle’ period (which stretches from the mid-1720s to the early 1730s) are especially flamboyant and include the celebrated Dixit Dominus, RV594.

This set re-issues an authoritative (but long deleted) 11CD set. The recordings date between 1994 and 2002. An essay by Michael Talbot is offered in English, French and German, while sung texts are presented in their original Latin and in English.