Rovette: Messe pour la naissance de Louis XIV CD review – Monteverdi steals the show

Benjamin Chénier conducts the Galilei Consort in the Chapelle Royale, Versailles.

It was only after 23 years of marriage that Louis XIII managed to produce an heir in 1638, and the relief was so great that a huge four-day celebration was mounted in Venice. In the lead was Giovanni Rovetta, deputy maestro at St Mark’s, who assembled the music at the basilica San Giorgio. Truth to tell, his music is not the most inventive here, though there is a most impressive large-scale Credo. Giovanni Rigatti supplies other parts of the mass, and the show is stolen by Monteverdi’s Adoramus te, Christe. The acoustics of the Chapelle Royale at Versailles make a good setting for Benjamin Chénier’s lively singers and players.