Le Tombeau de Charpentier (Gerard Lesne, Il Seminario Musicale) [2005]

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Le Tombeau de Charpentier (Gerard Lesne, Il Seminario Musicale) [2005]

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Marc-Antoine Charpentier's (1643-1704) deeply soulful vocal works are among the most immediately appealing pieces of the middle Baroque. He had a gift for grateful, lyrical vocal writing that's expressively expansive and avoids the patterned clichés that sometimes hobble music of that era. This collection features a variety of works, including songs, a cantata, and a short opera-like scene in the form of a motet, Epithalium Carpenterij, that's quite unlike anything else in the musical repertoire. It's a wickedly funny tombeau, or musical memorial tribute, which Charpentier writes in his own honor. Casting himself as a Shade wandering the earth after his death, he alternates passages of genuine religious devotion with diatribes against his rival, François Chaperon; the Shade and his companions end the piece singing "Blessed is he who, to wash away his sins, listens patiently to the asinine dissonances of Chaperon, for after death he will taste the joys of eternal life and drink the nectar of the concert of angels…." It's easy to imagine the scampish glee the tenor Charpentier must have taken in singing the role of the Shade in performances of the piece. Gérard Lesne describes himself as a contre-haute, or countertenor, but he has more the quality of a very high tenor, or male contralto, than of a genuine countertenor. His voice is natural sounding and unforced, and he sings with an unpretentious freedom that sounds almost casual, but it's refreshing in this kind of repertoire, which is sometimes the province of only the most polished and mannered voices. He's joined in several of the pieces by tenor Cyril Auvity and baritone Edwin Crossley-Mercer, who sing with comparable freshness and energy. Il Seminario Musicale, which Lesne directs, provides a lean and lively accompaniment. The variety and depth of Charpentier's imagination and the quality of the performances make this a disc that should be of interest to listeners who enjoy the discovery of obscure but rich musical treasures from the past.

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Le Tombeau de Charpentier (Gerard Lesne, Il Seminario Musicale) [2005]

Close