Alessandro Moreschi (1858  1922) is the only castrato known to have been recorded as the practice of castration of boy sopranos to create a powerfully distinctive soprano voice had greatly diminished by the mid-19th century. Moreschi was 44 when he first recorded these selections with a pianist in the Vatican in 1902. His non-operatic style of singing adapts features unusual to modern ears as his abilities were specialized to the performance practices shaped by the acoustics in the Sistine Chapel. This disc offers a rare glimpse not only of the silvery sound of an actual castrati but also how such voices sang the sacred repertoire. The disc also contains Pope Leo XIII chanting an "Ave Maria."

Alessandro Moreschi (1858  1922) is the only castrato known to have been recorded as the practice of castration of boy sopranos to create a powerfully distinctive soprano voice had greatly diminished by the mid-19th century. Moreschi was 44 when he first recorded these selections with a pianist in the Vatican in 1902. His non-operatic style of singing adapts features unusual to modern ears as his abilities were specialized to the performance practices shaped by the acoustics in the Sistine Chapel. This disc offers a rare glimpse not only of the silvery sound of an actual castrati but also how such voices sang the sacred repertoire. The disc also contains Pope Leo XIII chanting an "Ave Maria." Read less