Although a shade late for Charpentier’s tercentenary celebrations, this recording is the culmination of two years of preparation by Concerto delle Donne. Their vigilant programme takes us through different stages of the Virgin Mary’s story: Birth, Salutation, the Nativity of Christ, the Passion and the Coronation of the Virgin. Concerto delle Donne reveal ravishing music, helped in part by the Newfoundland-based Charpentier scholar Jane Gosine, who provided most of the music editions and wrote the informative booklet essay. Charpentier composed more than 100 sacred works for women’s voices, several of them for the Cistercians at Port Royal in Paris, where the composer’s sister was a nun. The Magnificat for Port Royal (edited from the autograph manuscript by Alastair Ross), one of his numerous joyful Nativity compositions, and a simple strophic yet affecting Stabat mater are the most substantial pieces in this superb disc. The shorter motets are gems, too.

Donna Deam, Faye Newton and Gill Ross sing beautifully, with support from six other sopranos in chorally reinforced sections. Their polished vocal blend is complemented by expressive sincerity and stylistic integrity. Ross’s accompaniments and solos are exemplary – as one might expect from an experienced keyboard player who has been the backbone of several English Baroque bands. He plays a magnificent organ dating from 1690 at the church of Notre-Dame in Rozay-en-Brie (about 30 miles east of Paris) that Couperin is known to have played. The church’s wonderful acoustic is reverberant yet modest, and is perfect for enabling the singers to project effortlessly.