Vivaldi’s Gloria in D Major, RV589 is arguably his most popular work after The Four Seasons, and certainly one of the most-recorded. Traditionally, it was performed in concert or coupled on record with such works as Haydn’s Nelson Mass or as part of a potpourri of Baroque favourites. Things have changed in the last 20 years or so. But the fact remains that Vivaldi never completed a Mass setting. What might one have sounded like? Now, thanks to Les Arts Florissants and Paul Agnew, we can find out. 

As Agnew writes in his booklet note: “I make no great claims for the authenticity of our finished mass. No doubt Antonio Vivaldi himself would have done a much better job and even the idea of ‘completing’ the mass is based on the very flimsiest of evidence. But the challenge was fascinating, and the result can be judged by you the listeners. I hope it gives you as much pleasure to listen to as we took in performing it.”

I for one have found it an extremely pleasurable listening...