BREMF – Convent, Court and Salon – BREMF Consort of Voices, Deborah Roberts (director)

Splendidly accompanied by Claire Williams (organ) and Alex McCartney (theorbo), the BCV, a choir full of soloists, successfully tackled an amazingly risky programme of complicated Italian works for two choirs. Psalm verses were sung first by one choir, then by the other, abruptly changing speed and rhythm, risking a break-up at every change. Guest soloist Clare Wilkinson (mezzo-soprano) sang some even more complex songs and a fiendishly decorated duet with Deborah Roberts.

All this scintillating and glorious music was written by three extraordinary Italian women whose fame flourished in the mid-seventeenth century and is now so diligently and beautifully revived.

St Bartholomew’s Church, 1 November 2015

Rating: