The disc opens with a splendid Laetatus sum for six solo singers, choir and instruments. …the tenor in Salve, o Regina delivers some wonderfully impassioned decoration, and the sopranos in the final Laudate Dominum are flashingly bright throughout and end on a perfect unison. Nor should we forget the instrumentalists: the violinists in Sanctorum meritis dance their way through the music in a way that transfigures the bare notes on the page.

The fourth volume of Robert King's exploration of Monteverdi's sacred music continues to mix pieces from different sources: the composer's authorised collection Selva morale e spirituale, the posthumous Venetian collection Messa aquattro voci e salmi, and various Italian anthologies.
The beginning of Laetatus sum I instantly establishes the impeccable technical credentials of these stunning performances. The organ and chitarrone continuo is steady and sure-footed, joined a few bars later by a flamboyant violin duel stunningly dispatched by Simon Jones and Andrea Morris, and then crowned with a glorious duet by Carolyn Sampson and Rebecca Outram. The Choir of The King's Consort reinforce tutti passages with some splendid contributions and meet the florid, extrovert eightpart writing in Dixit Dominus II with colourful commitment. In the motet Adoramus te, Christe – not to be confused with the comparably beautiful but better known Christe adoramus, te – the choir shows its skill at gentler music, although I wonder if the use of solo voices might have been equally attractive and closer to what Monteverdi would have expected.
Charles Daniels and James Gilchrist beautifully judge several intimate tenor solos; Gilchrist's glorious and heartfelt singing in Salveregina I features some wonderful echo contributions from Daniels. Their tender communication of the text and sweet high registers consolidate their status as the finest English tenors of their type. Robert King never rushes the music but cannily treads the fine line between dizzying excitement and authoritative splendour. Even if you already admire seminal recordings of Monteverdi sacred music by the likes of Andrew Parrott, Konrad Junghänel and Rinaldo Alessandrini, there are plenty of less familiar gems included that make this series essential.