Leçons de Ténèbres

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Couperin's Leçons de ténèbres are justly celebrated, their intense yet intimate sound-world reflecting both the agony and the ecstasy of these texts. …the crystalline purity of Emma Kirkby's... — BBC Music Magazine, April 2008, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 28th Jan 2008
Catalogue No: BISCD1575
Label: BIS
Length: 69 minutes

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Couperin, F: Trois Leçons de Ténèbres

Work length44:31

Album only

$12.85

$17.50

Emma Kirkby, Agnès Mellon, Terence R. Charlston, Charles Medlam
Recorded: September 2005
Recording Venue: St. Martin's, East Woodhay, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

Premiere Lecon de Tenebres pour le Mercredi Saint

Track length16:37

Album only

$5.15

$7.00

Seconde Lecon de Tenebres pour le Mercredi Saint

Track length15:40

Album only

$3.85

$5.25

Troisieme Lecon de Tenebres pour le Mercredi Saint

Track length12:14

$2.05

$3.85

$5.25

Lalande: Troisieme Lecon de Tenebres du Mercredi Saint, s118

Work length11:20

$2.05

$5.15

$7.00

Emma Kirkby, Charles Medlam, Terence R. Charlston
Recorded: September 2005
Recording Venue: St. Martin's, East Woodhay, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

Lalande: Troisieme Lecon de Tenebres du Vendredi Saint, s124

Work length13:37

$2.05

$3.85

$5.25

Agnès Mellon, Charles Medlam, Terence R. Charlston
Recorded: September 2005
Recording Venue: St. Martin's, East Woodhay, Hampshire, England, United Kingdom

Troisieme Lecon de Tenebres du Mercredi Saint, s124

Track length13:37

$2.05

$3.85

$5.25

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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.

Reviews

April 2008

Couperin's Leçons de ténèbres are justly celebrated, their intense yet intimate sound-world reflecting both the agony and the ecstasy of these texts. …the crystalline purity of Emma Kirkby's soprano offsets the smoky tones of Agnès Mellon. Eloquent restraint and internalised ardour combine in these sensitively judged accounts. Less well known than the Couperin are Lalande's hypnotic Tenebrae settings... These are, in short, performances of infinite tenderness, profound affection and mature insight.

May 2008

When the two voices swell fervently there is a sense of emotional arrival, mutual enhancement and discovery.

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