Customer Reviews

Christmas Vespers

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Jennifer Ellis's voice is sublime. All the voices are delightful. This is my favorite CD and I listen to it every day. It's refreshing and inspiring to me. Especially fabulous are Track 7 on the 1st CD and Track 6 on the 2nd CD. Thank you, Warren Stewart, for making this CD.

Have you ever wished that Claudio Monteverdi had written TWO Vespers of the Blessed Virgin in the year 1620? Well, of course he didn't; he had other projects. Chiara Margarita Cozzolani's Vespers, as reconstructed here from two publications of her motets, seem nonetheless to be the the next best thing. Cozzolani can be imagined as Monteverdi's musical daughter. She may well have been the most outstanding woman composer of the Baroque.

Cozzolani spent all of her long adult life in the convent of Santa Radegonda, across the way from the Cathedral of Milan. The musical skills of her sister nuns were acclaimed throughour Europe; crowds gathered in the open portion of their church, the chiesa esteriore, to listen to the musical services through the choir grate without ever beholding the singers. As abbess, Cozzolani guided her 'house' successfully through an attack by the fanatic Archbishop Alfonso Lita, who wanted to suspend the nuns' artistic musical activities.

This performance of the Vespers, on two CDs, includes both the plainchant and Cozzolani's polyphonic motets, as would have been the case in the 1640s and as is the artistic standard of such performances today. The third CD is a seventeen minute 'lecture' by director Warren Stewart concerning Cozzolani and her musical world. Stewart has a splendid speaking voice; if he ever abandons music, he might wisely consider a career as a radio commentator. This short lecture will be of great interest to listeners who have begun to enjoy early Baroque music without "knowing" much about it.

The ensemble Magnificat is cellist Warren Stewart's creation entirely, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, employing the finest singers and instrumentalists of that community, drawing from the faculty and students of Stanford and UC Berkeley. Magnificant has thrilled Bay Area music lovers with three or four concert programs each year since 1989. I've been lucky enough to catch some of their performances live. This Vespers is surely the best CD Magnificat has issued, well sung by two choirs of women's voices and superbly conducted. I wouldn't hesitate to compare it to better-known full-time European ensembles in its musical impact.

I will resist my inveterate wordiness, and cut to the chase: On the evidence of these splendid performances, Maria Chiara Cozzolani must rank as one of the greatest composers of the early Baroque. I would not hesitate to second the opinion (see review above) that this selection of vesper psalms and sacred concerti is fully the equal--in creativity and euphoric splendor--of Monteverdi's celebrated "Vespers of 1610." Cozzolani is a real find. If you enjoy the Venetian polychoral idiom, do not hesitate to obtain this set, which features singing of amazing virtuosity from an all-female vocal ensemble plus (engagingly realized) continuo. First-rate recording, excellent notes, and generous bonus track on second CD containing a fine scholarly presentation on Cozzolani and her context by the ensemble's director.

This is one of the most extraordinary recordings of early baroque music that I have heard. It is sheer joy from beginning to end. Though ordinarily a reserved Anglican, I enjoy something of a Pentecostal experience whenever I listen to this music! You will, too, when you hear Cozzolani--whatever your religious background. Urgently recommended. Give copies away to your friends and neighbors; go out into the highways and byways. . . .

There is little need to contribute yet another rave review here. Like Mr. Climacus (a strange name I've never heard of before; maybe he lives in a church yard!) I am a somewhat sober Anglican (Anglo-Catholic to be exact). But you can't imagine what a thrill it was to hear my first Cozzolani piece performed live here in Boston (by the superb choral group Exsultemus). The piece is the seventh cut on CD 1 of this box set, namely "O quam bonus es". The lyric of this antiphon has to be one of the most radical (if not THE most) ever to come out of an orthodox Christian setting--and from a convent no less! The integration of spiritual and earthly intensity of the lyric easily stands apart from anything I have ever heard. And amazingly, Cozzolani's joyful music keeps pace with the striking lyrics. The performances of Catherine Webster and Jennifer Ellis are strong and nuanced, you get the feeling that they know they're singing something special. Here is just one stanza to give you the (ahem...) flavor [Warning: Strong language and vivid imagery to follow. Those with sensitive theistic or atheistic constitutions may become agitated.]:

"O happy, blessed me. Now I graze from His wound; now I nurse at her breast; I do not know where to turn next. In his wound is life; in her breast, salvation; in his wound, quiet; in her breast, peace; in His wound, nectar; in her breast, honey; in His wound, rejoicing; in her breast, joy; in the wound of Jesus; in the breast, O Virgin."

And it only intensifies from there...oh, what the heck: "His blood saves me; her milk purifies me; His blood revives me, her milk restores me; His blood inebriates me; her milk makes me joyous. O wounds, O breasts, O milk, golden wounds, sweet breasts." And this Christian Muse-ician sings on...

This set of CD's offers the listener an experience of joy and beauty. The composition and the performance are both wonderful. This music reminds me of Mozart; it is dense with harmonies and counterpoints.

I don't usually write reviews but I love this music. I heard it first on pubic radio and thought if I could encourage anyone to try it, I would. It's a little treasure in a busy world.