Great Purity Performances by Deborah Roberts and friends - heard by PATRIC STANDFORD '... a recording to be treasured ...'

This beautiful recital of sixteenth century music for female voices is a 'sound-track' to Sarah Dunant's novel Sacred Hearts, the third in her Renaissance trilogy which was published in July 2009.

Set in 1570, this is the story of Serafina, a sixteen-year old girl who falls in love with her music tutor and refuses to marry into the wealthy Milanese family intended for her. As was quite common in those times, she was forcibly enclosed in a Benedictine convent in Ferrara where she discovers that her voice is not only her greatest gift, but is also her means of escape from the imprisonment...

GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA

ITALY

ENGLAND

EARLY MUSIC

CHORAL MUSIC