Leçons de ténèbres Litanies & Magnificat

Description

In 1979, two complete recordings of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Leçons de ténèbres, signed by René Jacobs and Jean-Claude Magloire (with the deeply moving Helen Watts, it would be time for them to be reissued on CD, as they only had a fleeting release on vinyl…), were released in quick succession, forever changing the face of the most Italian of composers of the Grand Siècle. Charpentier wrote here some of his most moving masterpieces, skillfully blending the Gregorian heritage with a theatricalization of the text of the "Lamentations of Jeremiah," all while adorning it with a rich instrumental continuo. Since those pioneering versions, a few others have appeared without ever challenging them; now Jonathan Cohen also approaches this repertoire with his opulent Arcangelo. However, he draws from the later "Leçons de ténèbres," not those recorded by Jacobs or Magloire, which were written for the Abbaye-au-bois, where Mother Desnots inspired Charpentier to create works with an extremely wide range (one lesson was noted in the C clef), but rather the later ones that have been known for longer. A marvel of the ensemble is "La Leçon du Mercredi Saint" (H 120), for which André Vessières left an admirable reading for the Discophiles français. It required the stylistic severity and expressive genius of Stéphane Degout to succeed him, and with what art, what eloquence, what piety, what Latin pronounced in such a natural French way. He magnifies the text, carrying it fully with the deep harmonics of his voice, and does the same with the other "Leçon du Mercredi Saint" H 123, which is more luminous, where he reveals a more ultramontane vocality. The second "Leçon du Mercredi Saint" (H 138) requires a tenor; Howard Crook for Louis Devos multiplied the affects with the skill we know him for, while Samuel Boden initially sings the text with a certain restraint, revealing the grand line that Charpentier writes, which is not so easy, but the friends of Arcangelo help him wonderfully. The disc opens with the sumptuous "Litanies de la vierge," which Jordi Savall played in a meditative manner, while Jonathan Cohen gilds them with fine gold, an intoxicating music with delicate polyphonies, a true treasure of church music from the Grand Siècle, and complements them with the "Magnificat à trois voix," whose obstinate bass establishes a stunning compositional mastery, decidedly very Italianate, while the "Ouverture pour le sacre d’un évêque," with its chaconne-like airs, seems drawn from a Lyric tragedy. A wonderful, inspired disc that raises hopes for a sequel, both in Charpentier's Leçons and in his great masses or sacred scenes. (Discophilia - Artalinna.com) (Jean-Charles Hoffelé)