FREE UK SHIPPING OVER £30!

Couperin / Lalande - Lecons de Tenebres | BIS BISCD1575

Couperin / Lalande - Lecons de Tenebres

£12.69

In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day

Label: BIS

Cat No: BISCD1575

Barcode: 7318590015759

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 28th January 2008

Contents

About

The Leçons de Ténèbres gathered here are some of the finest in the genre. By the time of Couperin and Lalande, a practice of singing the Lamentations of Jeremiah during Holy Week had been established in which the text was divided into nine ‘lessons’ sung over three days, with one candle of a special candelabra being extinguished after each lesson, until ‘tenebrae’ or darkness was achieved on Good Friday.
The three Leçons by François Couperin, composed for the royal monastery of Longchamp c. 1714, are highly regarded (Couperin himself at one time referred to a full set of nine lessons, but only the three for Holy Wednesday are known today.) Couperin, named ‘Organiste du Roi’ in 1693, was the colleague of de Lalande, ‘Maître de Chapelle’ at the French court, whose own Leçons were composed for the royal chapel.
They are performed here by two of the finest sopranos in the field of early music: Emma Kirkby, who was praised for her “customary radiance of voice, technical agility and interpretative intelligence” (Gramophone on BIS-CD-1435), and Agnès Mellon, who here makes her first appearance on BIS. They are given expert support by Charles Medlam and Terence Charlston, both members of the distinguished ensemble London Baroque.

Error on this page? Let us know here

Need more information on this product? Click here