Album: Vivaldi, Vespro Per La Vergine, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi

Though not primarily a composer of sacred music, the prolific Vivaldi nevertheless compiled a substantial body of work in that vein, one recently swelled by the discovery of two choral pieces, the ten-part Dixit Dominus and eight-part Nisi Dominus.

Those two works form the bulk of this collation of his sacred choral pieces, along with the Magnificat and a few shorter pieces. Accompanied by an ensemble, Musica Fiata, incorporating specialist period instruments such as chalumeau, arciliuto and violino in tromba marina, La Capella Ducale deliver the psalms with joy, some of the ornamentation is so detailed it sounds like laughter.

Download this: 'Dixit Dominus, RV 807', 'Nisi Dominus, RV 803'