Performer: Cappella Artemisia
Conductor: Candace Smith
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Brilliant Classics
Catalogue: 94638
Release: 2014
Size: 336 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Banchieri: Messa solenne a 8
01. O vos omnes
Rusca: Sacri concerti
02. Adoramus te, Christe
Monteverdi: Ecco, Silvio, colei che in odio hai tanto
03. Sacred contrafactum, “Qui pependit in cruce’
Vizzana: Componimenti musicali de motetti concertati
04. O magnum mysterium
05. anon.: Lamentione di Geremia [Canti delle Monache, Bologna, 1670]
Ciaia: Lamentationi sagre e motetti, Op. 2
06. Lamentatione seconda – Feria quinta
Legrenzi: Harmonia d’affetti devoti, Book 1, Op. 3
07. Dialogo delle due Mariae, “Quam amarum est, Maria”
Cazzati: Cantate morali, e spirituali, Op. 20
08. Madrigale al Crocifisso, “Di sangue asperso e tinto”
Agnelli: Secondo libro di mottetti
09. O vos omnes
10. Grossi: Adoramus te, Christe
Soderini: Sacrarum cantionum, Book 1
11. Dic nobis, Maria
Massaino: Sacri cantus, Book 2
12. Congratulamini mihi omnes
Badalla: Motetti a voce sola
13. Silentio, o care turbe
Rota: Motectorum, Book 1
14. Alleluia, haec dies quam fecit Dominus
Arresti: Messe
15. Quid mihi est in caelo
Cozzolani: Concerti sacri, Op. 2
16. Ave mater dilectissima
Rusca: Sacri concerti
17. Canzone francese seconda
Strata: Arie di musica
18. Risorto hoggi e’il Signore
Massenzio: Sacri motetti … con la sequenza di Pentecoste et letanie, Op. 10
19. Alleluia – Surrexit Pastor
Perucona: Sacri concerti de motetti
20. Cessate tympana
This disc brings together a collection of vocal works from 17th‐century Italian convents – music that is given another dimension thanks to the fact that its primary function was to aid worship. Led by the liturgy, the pieces were often based on prayers of celebration or lamentation, both of which feature prominently in the emotional rollercoaster that is Holy Week (the last week of Lent and the last week before Easter).
The works in this collection were written by a variety of composers – some dedicating their compositions to the nuns (incidentally, one of the most fascinating mysteries surrounding convent repertoire is the fact that these pieces often contain parts for tenor and bass voices – the nuns often resorted to numerous solutions to supplant the lack of male voices, including transposition of lower voices or entire pieces or the use of instruments) and numerous pieces written by the nuns themselves – such as Rosa Giacinta Badalla’s affecting Silentio.
Several of the works combine voices with instrumental forces such as the viola da gamba, lirone, and baroque guitar. They are all performed by the acclaimed all‐female ensemble Cappella Artimisia, founded in 1991 and which has received critical and popular praise both for the rarity and originality of its repertoire.
Recorded in the convent of Santa Margherita in Bologna.