Search - Magnificat Ensemble, Warren Stewart :: Christmas Vespers

I listen to this every day...

C. Cody | Oakland, CA United States | 04/18/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Joy

Pat Campbell | New Hampshire | 05/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."

Voices Behind the Choir Screen

Giordano Bruno | Wherever I am, I am. | 02/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."