COMPOSERS: Charpentier
LABELS: Virgin Veritas
WORKS: Leçons de ténèbres
PERFORMER: Il Seminario Musicale/Gérard Lesne
CATALOGUE NO: VMT 5 61483 2 1993/95
Charpentier’s music for Holy Week is among his most expressive. The richness of his harmonic vocabulary, unrivalled by any contemporary save Purcell, is at its most concentrated in these marvellous Tenebrae settings. The music in these reissues has been sensitively arranged in liturgical order and the performances are mostly exemplary. At times the balance, notably for Peter Harvey’s affecting Holy Thursday solos, could have been more favourable to the singers, but this is a minor problem in a rewarding set. Jan Smaczny
Charpentier: Leçons de ténèbres
Charpentier’s music for Holy Week is among his most expressive. The richness of his harmonic vocabulary, unrivalled by any contemporary save Purcell, is at its most concentrated in these marvellous Tenebrae settings. The music in these reissues has been sensitively arranged in liturgical order and the performances are mostly exemplary. At times the balance, notably for Peter Harvey’s affecting Holy Thursday solos, could have been more favourable to the singers, but this is a minor problem in a rewarding set. Jan Smaczny
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:29 pm