It's good to know that Hildegard von Bingen was not the only woman writing music in Medieval Europe, so it's a pleasure to discover St. Birgitta of Sweden. She lived about 200 years after Hildegard and shares some biographical elements with her. Birgitta also came from a noble family and was a visionary, but married at an early age. After her husband's death, she went on to found a religious order, and had broad religious and political influence. Their musical styles are recognizably different, though. Hildegard's melodies encompass an astonishingly broad range for music of the period. They have wide intervals: a signature of hers is a figure rising a fifth and then a fourth to the octave and they use extensive melisma. Birgitta's melodies are more closely related to the conventions of chant, with the regular use of repeated pitches, traditional cadential movement, and less extravagant melisma. In this attractive collection, the vocal and instrumental ensemble Les Flamboyants brings together a variety of antiphons, psalms, and sequences by the two composers. All the music is monophonic, but the group adds drones, harmonies, and other lines to some of the pieces. This may not please purists, but the additions are subtle and circumspect, and make for appealing versions of these works. The vocalists perform with exceptionally pure and focused tone and with a beautiful sense of line. The sound is appropriately resonant, but is clear and bright. The CD should be of strong interest to fans of early vocal music and to anyone who wants to explore the growing number of women composers whose work is just now coming to light. ˜ Stephen Eddins, Rovi