Concerto Palatino/Bruce Dickey, Charles Toet Glossa GCD 922509 (2 CDs)****

Francesco Cavalli (1602-1676) was a pupil of Monteverdi whose star shone very brightly in the 1960s and 1970s, when a number of his operas were produced at the Glyndebourne and Wexford Festivals. This CD, reissuing a performance recorded in 1994, seeks to present a different side of his musical character, through his sacred music. The Vespers performed here are taken from the Musiche sacreof 1656, a 28-work collection from which have been extracted items which would have been appropriate to vespers for the Feast of the Assumption in a 17th-century Venetian church. With a vocal ensemble that includes soprano Emily van Evera and tenor Mark Padmore, the singing is first-rate, and the instrumental line-up, with two cornetts and up to eight trombones, often sounds glorious in the spacious acoustic of the Reformierte Kirche Arlesheim in Switzerland. See url.ie/5afh