Album

Among the few women composers whose music is still extant from the seventeenth century, the work of Milanese nun Chiara Margarita Cozzolani is a special case; she was the most prolific and gifted female musician of her time, a composer whose sacred music is of equal quality to that of her male contemporaries and capable of exceeding many of them. San Francisco's Magnificat, under the direction of Warren Stewart, has thus far done more work on Cozzolani's behalf than any other ensemble, and the Musica Omnia release Cozzolani: Messa Paschale (Mass for Easter Day) is an ingenious reconstruction of a complete Easter service from Cozzolani. This is achieved through locating the correct chant incipits and winding them through a mass setting found in Cozzolani's Concerti Sacri (1642) with an Easter-themed motet, Maria Magdalene Stabat, with a solo part beautifully sung here by soprano Catherine Webster, added from Cozzolani's Psalmi (1650) to complete the cycle.

Cozzolani: Messa Paschale is a highly enjoyable indicator of what an authentic service sounded like at the musically famous monastery at St. Radegonda where Cozzolani was one of the principal music directors. While that is a historically desirable component and helps to set her work in the right context, this is not quite as compelling as the dazzling flights of fancy found on Magnificat's earlier Musica Omnia release, Cozzolani: Vespro della Beata Vergine. Some of the chant incipits tend to be rather long and the mass movements more homophonic in texture than in her other work. Perhaps Cozzolani did not feel she had the same kind of freedom in setting the Gradual as she did the Office; furthermore, her mass movements are shorter than her psalm settings and motets, though Cozzolani's beautiful Credo here is an exception. Despite such middling concerns, Cozzolani: Messa Paschale still makes for terrific listening; in performance and recording it is easily the equal of the earlier album and certain pieces, such as those mentioned above and Cozzolani's setting of the "Gloria," do stand out as being exceptional.

© Uncle Dave Lewis , All Music Guide

CD 1
Gregorian Chant Composer Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum, introit for Easter Sunday in mode 4 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
1	Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum, introit for Easter Sunday in mode 4	4:30			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Messa Paschale, a4 Work 7:02 Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
2	1.Kyrie eleison	2:24			$0.99
3	2.Gloria in excelsis Deo	4:38			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Collect Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
4	Collect	1:23			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Lectio epistolae beati Pauli apostoli Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
5	Lectio epistolae beati Pauli apostoli	1:13			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Ave mater dilectissima Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Margaret Bragle Mezzo-Soprano, Warren Stewart Conductor
6	Ave mater dilectissima	6:28			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Victimae paschali laudes, for Easter Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
7	Victimae paschali laudes, for Easter	2:14			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer In illo tempore: Maria Magdalene, evangelium (Mark 16:1-7) Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
8	In illo tempore: Maria Magdalene, evangelium (Mark 16:1-7)	2:52			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Messa Paschale, a4 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
9	3.Credo	7:29			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Bone Iesu, fonos amoris Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
10	Bone Iesu, fonos amoris	4:18			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Vere dignum et Iustum est, prefatory hymn Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
11	Vere dignum et Iustum est, prefatory hymn	2:10			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Messa Paschale, a4 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
12	4.Sanctus	1:21			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer O quam bonus es (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
13	O quam bonus es (Salma a8, 1650), Op.3	8:15			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Canon/Pater Noster/Pax Domini Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
14	Canon/Pater Noster/Pax Domini	2:01			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Messa Paschale, a4 Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
15	5.Agnus Dei	2:15			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer O dulcis Iesu Work Ruth Escher Soprano, Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Jennifer Ellis Soprano, Warren Stewart Conductor
16	O dulcis Iesu	5:42			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Dominus vobiscum ... Spiritum nobis, Domine, post communion Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
17	Dominus vobiscum ... Spiritum nobis, Domine, post communion	1:15			$0.99
Gregorian Chant Composer Ite missa est, dismissal Work Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
18	Ite missa est, dismissal	0:27			$0.99
Chiara Margarita Cozzolani Composer Maria Magdalena Stabat Work Karen Clark Contralto, Magnificat Early Music Ensemble, Warren Stewart Conductor
19	Maria Magdalena Stabat	8:35			$0.99