Others in the family made it to one of the central performances of the Mozartfest, Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort and Players’ interpretation of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610. This was quite a marathon as it was given without an interval, and also included some other pieces such as organ works, in line with the conductor’s understanding of how it could have been performed liturgically. He has reordered Monteverdi’s movements so that the work ends with the Sonata sopra Sancta Maria, Duo Seraphim and Audi Cœlum.
While according to McCreesh this does away with the ‘Romantic sense of inevitable climax’ of the usual order of movements, it put a lot of slow-moving sections together, which (I’m told) made quite heavy demands on the listeners. There also seemed to be more moving around between movements than is usual even in performances of this work. But the audience members in the family were quite happy with the quality of the performances.
Recently Bath Abbey has installed CCTV screens around the building showing views of the performers, particularly valuable if you are in one of the many seats east of the choir stalls, or in a side aisle or transept, so you have little or no direct view of them. However, for this concert the aspect ratio of the images on the screens was slightly awry, and didn’t flatter the singers’ figures.
There is a review from the Guardian here.