Composer: Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Henry Desmarest
Performer: Jehanne Amzal, Eugenie Lefebvre, Clement Debieuvre, Francois-Olivier Jean, Francois Joron, Jean-Christophe Laniece, David Witczak, Ensemble Les Surprises
Conductor: Louis-Noel Bestion de Camboulas
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Alpha
Catalogue: ALPHA1018
Release: 2024
Size: 937 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Charpentier: Te Deum, H. 146
01. I. Prélude
02. II. Te Deum laudamus
03. III. Te æternum Patrem
04. IV. Te per orbem terrarum
05. V. Tu de victo mortis aculeo
06. VI. Te ergo quæsumus famulis tuis subveni
07. VII. Æterna fac cum sanctis tuis
08. VIII. Dignare Domine / Fiat misericordia tua
09. IX. In te Domine speravi
Desmarest: Te Deum “de Lyon”
10. I. Prélude
11. II. Te Deum laudamus
12. III. Te gloriosus apostolorum chorus
13. IV. Te martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus
14. V. Te per orbem terrarum
15. VI. Patrem immensæ majestatis
16. VII. Tu rex gloriæ, Christe
17. VIII. Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem
18. IX. Tu de victo mortis aculeo
19. X. Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes
20. XI. Te ergo quæsumus famulis tuis subveni
21. XII. Æterna fac cum sanctis tuis
22. XIII. Salvum fac populum tuum Domine
23. XIV. Et rege eos
24. XV. Per singulos dies benedicimus te
25. XVI. Dignare Domine die isto
26. XVII. Miserere nostri Domine
27. XVIII. Fiat misericordia tua
28. XIX. In te Domine speravi
Two Te Deums go head to head! The famous one by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and a completely new one by Henry Desmarets. Charpentier and Desmarets, remarkable composers of both sacred music and opera, shared a taste for Italian music and travel, but they also shared the disadvantage of having spent some time in Jean-Baptiste Lully’s ‘shadow’! Desmarets’ life was somewhat tormented, between disgrace and exile; it was while he was superintendent of music at the Court of Lorraine that he composed two Te Deums, including the Te Deum “de Lyon”. Written for the same ensemble as Charpentier’s famous Te Deum, it uses trumpets and timpani for the grandiloquent sections. It is a true work of craftsmanship, notably in the variety of instrumentation, but also in its alternation of different vocal forces.
The Te Deum was one of the major cultural emblems of the French court in the late 17th and early 18th centuries; in the apt phrasing of annotator Bénédicte Hertz on this 2024 Alpha release, it “exploited two key driving forces of kingly politics: glorification and fear.” The splendid trumpet-and-drum sound has made the Charpentier Te Deum heard here into one of the enduring hits of the Baroque era; it even turned up as a theme song for the Eurovision Song Contest a few years back. Ensemble Les Surprises and its imposingly named director, Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas, deliver a strong version with crack playing; it can stand with any others among the many on the market, and Alpha backs up the performances with a spacious but never muddy acoustic at the Metz Arsenal that retains detail and doesn’t let the fine soloists get lost. However, what really makes this release a standout is the presence of another Te Deum; Charpentier’s is the only one that is commonly heard. The Te Deum “de Lyon” of Henry Desmarest here receives its world premiere. It was also written for the French court; the “de Lyon” moniker seems to come from the fact that a copy of the manuscript is housed there. The work is entirely satisfying. It is later than Charpentier’s work and breaks up the Te Deum text differently, allowing more room for the Italianate arias that were beginning to creep into French music, but the imposing quality of the genre is not lost, and this makes for interesting tensions. Lovers of the French Baroque will find that the music here enriches their understanding of the court and its mighty musical apparatus, and really, this is pleasing music for anyone, even Eurovision fans. This release landed on classical best-seller charts in early 2024.