Composer: Sebastien de Brossard, Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Performer: Ensemble Corrrespondances
Conductor: Sébastien Daucé
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Catalogue: HMM902707
Release: 2023
Size: 1.46 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Brossard: Elevatio O miraculum!
Charpentier: In nativitatem Domini canticum, H. 416
02. Praeludium. Usquequo avertis faciem tuam
03. Nuit – Réveil des bergers – Cæli aperti sunt
04. Charpentier: In nativitate Domini nostri Jesu Christi canticum, H 421
05. Charpentier: Messe de Minuit, H. 9: Kyrie
06. Charpentier: Noel: Joseph est bien marié, H. 534
07. Charpentier: Messe de Minuit, H. 9: Gloria
08. Charpentier: Alma redemptoris mater
09. Charpentier: Messe de Minuit, H. 9: Credo
10. Charpentier: Noel: Laissez paistre vos betes, H. 534
Charpentier: Messe de Minuit, H. 9
11. Sanctus
12. Agnus Dei
13. Charpentier: Te Deum, H147
Marc-Antoine Charpentier was the Frenchcomposer of the Grand Siècle who left the largestnumber of works specifically related to Christmas.
Here, going beyond the famous Messe de Minuit,listeners will be all the more enchanted by his histoires sacrées (brief oratorios) and Noëls pourles instruments when they are presented by thecomposer’s most fervent advocates
Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit (“Midnight Mass”) has been a popular work almost ever since it was composed around 1694, and it was one of the first French Baroque pieces to be recorded during the LP era. It is an absolutely irresistible Christmas piece, with French folk tunes woven into the polyphonic texture. This recording comes along just in time for the 2023 Christmas season, and it should find plenty of listeners. Ensemble Correspondances and leader Sébastien Daucé are specialists in the music of Charpentier, and they capture the particular lilt of this wonderful work with delicately elegant singing throughout. The ensemble is small, with just 11 singers; this may be a bit undersized in a French scene that favored big groups (choral performances at the king’s court may have had 100 or more), but the mass was written for a small Jesuit group, and the dimensions feel natural. Another draw is the presence of two sizable small-ensemble cantatas, quite different from each other and sung with the right dramatic emphasis. Here, the forces are perfectly appropriate, and the sound engineering from the Seine Musicale concert hall is ideal. A very satisfying holiday release for the French Baroque lover in one’s life.