Bach: Magnificat / Vivaldi: Gloria

Radiant hymns of praise: Luke the Evangelist has Mary, great with child, sing a hymn of praise to the Lord beginning with the words "Magnificat anima mea Dominum" - my soul doth magnify the Lord. The Gloria from the Mass Ordinary likewise praises God's majesty. Both texts have inspired composers down through the ages to create magnificent works of art. Bach's superb Magnificat and Vivaldi's Gloria (RV 589), a work the English Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot calls "full of fervour, exaltation and mysticism", are two of the most significant sacred masterpieces of the Baroque era.