Following their recording of Striggio’s Mass in 40 Parts from 1566, which racked up an astounding array of critical and commercial plaudits, Robert Hollingworth leads his maverick ensemble I Fagiolini on a new journey unearthing incredible lost works from the late Renaissance and early Baroque: 1612. The recording recreates a thanksgiving Vesper in commemoration of the famous Venetian naval victory at Lepanto in 1571, celebrated for over 200 years after the event in a new festival – The Feast of the Holy Rosary.

The title 1612 represents a year of momentous events: the death of the master of the ‘Massive Baroque’ and most brilliant of Venetian multi-choir composers, Giovanni Gabrieli; and thereby the apex of the fashion of multi-choirs. 1612 also marks the publication of Viadana’s collection of 4-choir Vesper Psalms, with a layout considerably more forward-looking than Monteverdi’s psalms in his 1610 publication. 1612 presents the world premiere recordings of Viadana’s Vesper Psalms and Gabrieli’s 28-voice Magnificat, surrounded by lost treasures from the glorious period of multi-choir music.