Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers is one of the landmark works of early Baroque music. It sits at the crossroads of Renaissance polyphony and the newer, dramatic style that would eventually lead to opera. The Vespers redefined what sacred music could sound like — emotionally immediate, virtuosic, and dramatic. Monteverdi specialists I Fagiolini and Robert Hollingworth have waited until their 40th birthday to record the 1610 Vespers. This is a lifetime's work with every nuance of drama and colour brought out in this one-to-a-part performance.