Charpentier - Messe en la mémoire d'un Prince ~ Chœur de chambre de Namur, Ensemble La Fenice, Jean Tubéry
So many catastrophes befell the Parisian de Guise family that while under its patronage early in his career, Marc-Antoine Charpentier had to devote considerable attention to writing music of mourning, and this release includes two of his major works from that period, Mass and Motet for the Dead and a work that has come to be known as Miserere des Jésuites. This is therefore not a particularly upbeat CD, but neither is it glumly mournful, and the works are ample demonstration of the intense expressiveness of Charpentier's imagination and of the individuality of his gift for creating music that steers clear of convention and cliché and goes straight for the heart...
