The Lady of The Convent

This composition can in a sense be regarded as a continuation of Selected Letters of Sergei Rachmaninoff, a piano cycle written after visiting Rachmaninoff’s grave. The starting point for the new piano cycle was as strong an impression, also in the US and also Russia-related: visiting the Novo-Diveevo Convent and Cemetery. It is a Russian Orthodox convent, and about seven thousand people are buried in the cemetery – mainly those who left Russia after the 1917 revolution, and their families.

The present recording reconstructs the sound of a Marian Mass in a Spanish convent towards the end of the 16th century: plainchant performed by women’s voices alternates with polyphonic works featuring a combination of women’s voices and instruments, together with a number of instrumental movements.