Marc-Antoine Charpentier is unquestionably the greatest master of church music in 17th century France.
Two of his most important works are expanded in this recording with organ interludes from organ masses by François Couperin.

Herve Niquet likes to say that recording is a source of stress and sometimes tension: "None of that was the case here," he continues. He has been performing this Couperin/de Lalande programme with the female singers of Le Concert Spirituel for over ten years: "The seven singers know every nook and cranny of these highly complex scores. So it was time to record this testimony to ten years of work. (...) I like the parallel between the singers of Le Concert Spirituel and the nuns who sing these lamentations every year throughout their lives in their monastery."

Marc-Antoine Charpentier is the only composer of the age of Louis XIV to have distinguished himself so remarkably in the genre of the 'sacred history': he wrote more than thirty such works, all composed after his residence in Italy. S�bastien Dauc� and the Ensemble Correspondances have carefully extracted from this outstanding corpus a number of gems that reflect both his experience in Rome (probably studying with Carissimi, the master of the oratorio) and the humanist concerns of an entire period. Like a miniature opera, each piece relates an exemplary destiny, including several strong-willed women (Judith, Cecilia, Mary Magdalene) and a deep friendship put to the test (Mors Sa�lis and Jonathae).

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704) : Messe A 4 Choeurs - Ensemble Correspondances - S�bastien Dauc� - Composer: Charpentier, Marc-Antoine (1643-1704) Works: Charpentier, M-A: Carnets de voyage d'Italie. Charpentier, M-A: Messe � Quatre Choeurs. Conductors: S�bastien Dauc�. Groups & Artists: Ensemble Correspondances. Label: Harmonia Mundi. Contents: Charpentier, M-A: Messe � Quatre Choeurs - Ensemble Correspondances (early music ensemble) S�bastien Dauc� Charpentier, M-A: Carnets de voyage d'Italie - Ensemble Correspondances (early music ensemble) S�bastien Dauc�

Includes vesper(s) by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Ensemble: Le Concert spirituel. Conductor: Hervé Niquet.