CD 1: Sandrine Rondot (s), Guillemette Laurens
(m-s), José
Canales (t), Renaud Delaigue (b), Capriccio
Stravagante /
Skip Sempé (dir/hpschd)
CD 2: Claire Leffilliâtre (s), Marc Pontus (c-t),
Serge Goubioud (t),
Arnaud Marzoratti (b), Le Poème Harmonique /
Vincent Dumestre (dir/lute)
CD 3: Café Zimmermann, Céline Frisch, organ of
the Chapelle de
l’hôpital de Charles Nicolle, Rouen / Pablo
Valetti (dir/vn)
CD4: Amel Brahim-Djelloul (s), Aurore Bucher (s),
Reinoud Van
Mechelen (c-t), Jeffrey Thompson (t), Benoît
Arnould (b), Capella
Cracoviensis ( Jan Tomasz Adamus, dir), Le Poème
Harmonique /
Vincent Dumestre (dir)
CD 5: Anne Magouët (s), Sarah Breton (a), Edwin
Crossley-Mercer
(b), Ensemble Pierre Robert / Frédéric Desenclos
(dir/org – organ
by Le Picard/Thomas (1753/2002), Basilica de
Tongres, Belgium)
CD 6: Caroline Bardot (s), Juliette Perret (s),
Étienne Bazola (bar),
Ensemble Correspondances / Sébastien Daucé
(dir/org/hpschd)
CD 7: Chantal Santon (s), Kaoli Isshiki (s),
Magid El Bushra (c-t),
Cyril Auvity (t), Edwin Crossley-Mercer (bar), Il
Seminario
Musicale / Gérard Lesne (dir/c-t)
CD 8: Stephan Macleod (bar), Arte Dei Suonatori,
Alexis Kossenko
(dir/fl)
CD 9: Céline Frisch, harpsichord by Émile Jobin
after Vincent
Tibaut
CD 10: Hasnaa Bennani (s), Isabelle Druet (a),
Claire Lefilliâtre (a),
Le Poème Harmonique / Vincent Dumestre
(dir/theorbo)
This 10-CD boxed set, from the Collection
Château de Versailles, contains two CDs
(L’île
enchantée, and Charpentier and Lully Te
Deums) previously released as part of Louis
XIV:
Les musiques du Roi-Soleil (Alpha 961).
The
latest set appears intended for the tourist
market, being a
compilation of recordings made in a variety of
venues (only two
CDs – nos. 4 and 10 – were recorded in
Versailles) over a period of
some 14 years. Quality of performances varies
quite considerably,
with Dumestre’s fast tempi at Versailles
contrasting with
Desenclos’s more natural and sensitive
performances. CDs
devoted to Étienne Moulinié (1599-1676), and the
psalms, motets
and Leçons de ténèbres by Charpentier are
very welcome
(although both composers, for different reasons,
had little to do
with Versailles). However, details of the music
in the booklet are
sketchy and there are no printed texts for the
vocal pieces. Two
historic organs are used, and the inclusion of
D’Anglebert’s fugues
and four organ pieces by Louis Marchand create a
balanced view
of French baroque music, although Marchand’s name
is not even
mentioned. More care is required. D’Anglebert’s
harpsichord
suites are stylishly played, but the earlier
choral recordings,
particularly from Versailles, are recorded rather
closely, giving
little impression of this famous chapel’s
acoustics.
DAVID PONSFORD
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