The Isenhagen Convent in northern Germany dates back to the year 1243 and is still in operation. Thus it has experienced all of Germany's upheavals, religious and otherwise. This unique disc attempts to trace something of the institution's musical history. It began as a monastery but soon became an all-female institution, first Catholic, then ("reluctantly," the booklet says) Protestant. At that point the residents perhaps became less cloistered, if one is to judge by the performance of the final work on the album, which ... Read More
The Isenhagen Convent in northern Germany dates back to the year 1243 and is still in operation. Thus it has experienced all of Germany's upheavals, religious and otherwise. This unique disc attempts to trace something of the institution's musical history. It began as a monastery but soon became an all-female institution, first Catholic, then ("reluctantly," the booklet says) Protestant. At that point the residents perhaps became less cloistered, if one is to judge by the performance of the final work on the album, which includes a male singer. That final work, which takes up the last 33 minutes of the album, is called the Historia von dem Leiden und Sterben unseres HERREN und Seligmacher Ihesu Christi; it is a simple Passion setting, with an Evangelist (baritone Kai Wessel) telling the story, other voice parts for individual personages, and a four-part choral crowd. The booklet doesn't explain when this might have been composed, but it's definitely an ancestor to and a part of the tradition in which... Read Less
