Compared with Monteverdi’s lavish 1610 vespers, Freddi’s resources are modest…, yet the music is remarkably varied – here rapt and contemplative, there extravagantly virtuosic. The six soloists are fresh-voiced and finely balanced, and they all offer stylish and cleanly enunciated readings.

The voices are lovely (a colleague compared Newton to Emma Kirkby) and the instrumental playing is accomplished. The band has mastered the Italian Baroque style to a high degree, and Savan knows the repertoire so well that he can find something to fit each slot in his program. Of the other singers, Steven Harrold’s name leapt out as a familiar one that can be found in every British vocal ensemble.

There are graceful weightlessness, devotional intimacy, overlapping contrapuntal details that pull the ear, and ingenious hints at larger-scale polychoral splendour…The Gonzaga Band’s classy musicianship and intrepid curiosity reaffirm that there are riches to be found among Monteverdi’s overlooked contemporaries.

Whether or not he knew Monteverdi’s famous version of the Vespers, Freddi’s music has its own virtues. Less brilliant in impact, it has clear, light textures with unusual voice-instrument combinations...This kind of loving scholarship, combined with excellent performance by the Gonzaga Band’s six singers and three instrumentalists, contributes to our ever-growing picture of music in the late Renaissance and early baroque.

With texts included and the Vesper settings claimed as world premiere recordings, this is an important addition to the catalogue of Baroque choral music.