400 years ago, Monteverdi’s great collection of church music, known as the 1610 Vespers, was published in Venice. To mark the anniversary, the award-winning Choir of New College Oxford, under its celebrated director Edward Higginbottom, releases its own version of this masterpiece.

The performance bristles with the musical energy invariably associated with New College Choir, coloured by the very special sound of its trebles alongside outstanding tenor and bass voices.

Apart from brilliant contributions from the tenors Nicholas Mulroy and Thomas Hobbs, all the solo material is taken by Choir members, emphasizing the nature of the music as a consort work. This approach to the score conforms to historical practice - retaining, however, a contemporary sense of drama and musical inflection.

The Choir is joined by another award-winning group, the Oxford-based Charivari Agréable (director: Kah-Ming Ng). Their instrumental contribution, scrupulously following the directions given in the 1610 print, and coming to a climax in the Sonata sopra Sancta Maria and the Magnificat, brings the Vespers sequence to a brilliant conclusion.

This New College version, with its unique treble voices, and faithful reading of Monteverdi’s performance instructions, is unlike any other: one to add to any library.