BREMF – Ricordanze – A Record of Love – Musica Secreta, Laurie Stras (director)

Isn’t it rather naughty to be obsessed with nuns? Well, when their music is so wonderful I’m glad to plead guilty. Professor Laurie Stras, beside the gigantic mock-Gothic pulpit, delivered a narrative about resourceful nuns surviving through some tumultuous times in late medieval Florence. They were a musical bunch and marked their liturgical feasts and celebrations with compositions preserved in the Biffoli-Sostegni manuscript, now brought to light centuries later. It is clear that the sisters were very accomplished musicians. Musica Secreta, an ensemble of singers and instrumentalists, certainly did them justice. Singing altogether and in various combinations, each voice was pure sounding yet distinctive and they blended perfectly in the cleanly resonant acoustic. They were augmented for a fuller effect by the Celestial Sirens, an array of very talented amateurs. The lute, bass viol and organ add to the variety of sound so each hymn, motet, antiphon or Mass setting had a different character – fifty shades of bliss!

Musica Secreta & Professor Laurie Stras

Andrew Connal
St Martin’s Church,
19 October 2025

Rating:

Musica Secreta
Ailsa Campbell, Amy Carson, Victoria Couper, Yvonne Eddy,
Hannah Ely, Elspeth Piggott, Kristiina Watt (sopranos)
Katharine Hawnt (mezzo-soprano)
Caroline Trevor (alto)

Kristiina Watt (lute)
Alison Kinder (bass viol)

Laurie Stras (director)

Claire Williams (organ & ensemble director)

with Celestial Sirens
Elspeth Barnett, Maria Birch, Kat Elliot, Hannah Loach, Jenny Hansell, Agatha Holloway,
Bibi Lees, Natasha Raybould, Silvia Reseghetti, Kate Rouse, Rachel Taylor, Rosie Taylor

Programme

All music is from the Biffoli-Sostegni manuscript:

Hymn: Veni Creator Spiritus
Kyrie, Gloria, Da pacem Domine from Messa a tre voci (Messa sopra Je le larray)
Chant: Nigra sum
Veni sponsa Christi
Chant: Regnum mundi
Salve sancte pater Francisce
In illo tempore
Salve sponsa Dei
Sanctus from Messa sopra Recordare virgo mater

Magnificat ottavo tono
Vergine bella
Non è alcun di gloria degno
O crux splendidior
Adoramus te
Sancta Dei genitrix
Sancta Maria, letaniæ della Madonna
Inter natos mulierum
Agnus Deifrom Messa sopra Recordare virgo mater
Salve regina