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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Marc-Antoine Charpentier: Motets pour le Grand Dauphin
As eldest son of Louis XIV, Louis of France, nicknamed le Grand Dauphin, was marked out to become king of France at his father's death. He was therefore given the education of a monarch, as this would have been conceived in the 17th century: running the affairs of the kingdom required knowledge of diplomatic and commercial relations, but also the acquisition of the external manifestations the Sun King had resorted to so skilfully, subjecting architecture, drama, painting and music to the requirements of his government. Just like his father, the Dauphin surrounded himself with chosen personalities, amongst whom the composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Removed from an official position at court by the talent and the intrigues of Lully, he was not allowed to write for the opera, for which the "Surintendant de la musique" had obtained a royal privilege. He therefore concentrated his creative activity primarily on sacred music, giving it the "Italian style" expressivity he had learned in Rome, where he had studied with Carrissimi.This religious lyricism deploys itself in the motets composed for Monseigneur's religious services.The latter would remain Dauphin for eternity since he died in 1711, four years before his father. | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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“…the present release with Ensemble Pierre Robert comes over with greater stylistic assurance than the older version. Here, the voices blend more sweetly, the tonal focus is sharper and the dynamic more affecting.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2006 **** “The indebtedness of Charpentier to his teacher Carissimi resonates throughout this glorious programme of petits motets for Lent… Ensemble Pierre Robert's resonant textures and skilful dramatic timing make these heartfelt performances spring to life: two tenors (one of the them a haute-contre - high tenor, not a countertenor) and a baritone sing a succession of gorgeous short sacred pieces, full of beautifully emotive polyphony. Gamba, theorbo, bassoon and organ provide an assortment of accompaniments, richly dramatic or coolly detached according to the requirements of the text.” Gramophone Magazine, September 2006 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Henry du Mont - Grands motets for the chapel of Louis XIV at the Louvre
“Henry Du Mont has long been credited as one of the creators, alongside Lully, of the grandmotet, the opulent style of church composition for soloists, choir and orchestra associated with Louis XIV's chapel at Versailles. The Pierre Robert Ensemble take a different view. Noting that Du Mont's 20 Motets pour la Chapelle du Roy, printed two years after his death in 1684, contain the kind of clumsy viola parts reconcilable with the work of a publisher's hack, they propose that such 'posthumous tawdry' can be dispensed with to reveal the originals as more intimate works for five solo singers, two violins and continuo, probably written for pre-Versailles times at the Louvre palace. It's in this form that they present three of the motets here, emphasising their argument by adding the semi-dramatic Dialogus de anima, scored for the same line-up.
When performed and recorded as beautifully and sensitively as they are here, Du Mont's plangent harmonies and dissonances reach into the listener's heart with sensuous clarity. These are near-perfect performances by an ensemble ideal for such ravishing music, and who, in Marcel Beekman, have an haute-contre of striking quality.
Frédéric Desenclos's tidy organ solos break up the programme nicely, but the motets are the stars.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | A collection of eleven petits motets for three voices & continuo
| | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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Gramophone Magazine