Le Concert Spirituel, Hervé Niquet - Charpentier: Leçons de Ténèbres (2002)

It almost goes without saying that a Hervé Niquet recording of Charpentier is going to be a thing of beauty. Whether it's in the long build-up to the top of the grand arch that's the opening Kyrie of the Messe de Monsieur de Mauroy, or the ardent twists and dissonances with which the first of the Leçons de Ténèbres announces itself, it only takes a few moments for Niquet's expert team of singers and instrumentalists to draw us into the achingly expressive world of 17th-century France.
Composed around 1691, this is the longest of his 11 Masses, and its many sections seem to move effortlessly from one to another, creating a constantly shifting range of subtle responses to text – some sweet, some stirring, some lilting and some weighty – while successfully maintaining the work's continuity.
Charpentier composed 31 incomplete sets of Leçons de Ténèbres, those intense settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah that were so popular in Holy Week in France during the mid- Baroque period, and which produced some of its most ravishing musical moments. Scored for six male voices, strings, flutes and continuo, this set moves between straightforward declamation and music of increasing harmonic and dramatic urgency to present a striking evocation of the desolation of the ruined Jerusalem.
These performances are exquisitely judged, showing an unerring feel for the music's expressive ebb and flow. Two releases of thorough desirability.