1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning music, stunning performers, February 22, 2009
This review is from: Rosa Mistica (Audio CD)
It's hard to believe, but the church hierarchy of the 1600s (who evidently had a problem with nuns doing things other than breathing) actually tried to suppress their nuns' practice of music, at least the polyphonic kind. It's sad to imagine how they must have succeeded, and to think of what's been lost, but the collection presented on Rosa Mistica is nevertheless a broad and wonderful group of compositions by nuns who perhaps composed and performed despite the rules. The extensive liner notes present some details of the lives of these composers: some were lucky enough to be published and respected in their lifetimes, but many simply faded away. Thankfully their voices haven't.
Cappella Artemisia perform these pieces with incredible depth and emotion, and the sound is likely to be fresh and unique to the ears of many Early Music fans: compositions for SATB choirs would have been problematic for cloistered nuns who had no real Ts or Bs hanging around the convent, so the lower parts were often transposed up or doubled with low instruments for performances. Cappella Artemisia employs these techniques to produce a sound encompassing the complete range of the female voice. We can be thankful to those who composed despite discouragement, those who somehow preserved or re-discovered such precious music, and those who perform it, bringing it to our thirsty ears.
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