François Couperin: Leçons de Ténèbres

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Crowe here offers an intense and dramatic reading of the first Leçon … Elizabeth Watts takes centre stage in the second setting – her voice plummy and voluptuous … The two join in an impassioned... — BBC Music Magazine, December 2016, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 9th Sep 2016
Catalogue No: HMU807659
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 70 minutes

Couperin, F: Leçons de ténèbres pour le mercredy, Première Leçon, à une voix

Work length17:38

$7.00

$8.75

$11.20

Lucy Crowe, David Bates, La Nuova Musica

I. Incipit Lamentatio Jeremiae prophetae

Track length0:41

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

II. Aleph. Quomodo sedet sola

Track length2:16

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

Beth. Plorans ploravit in nocte

Track length3:41

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

IV. Ghimel. Migravit Juda

Track length1:49

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

V. Daleth. Viae Sion lugent

Track length2:28

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

VI. He. Facti sunt hostes

Track length3:07

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

VII. Jerusalem, convertere

Track length3:36

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

Brossard: Sonate en trio en Mi Mineur, SdB. 220

Work length7:06

$1.20

$1.50

$2.40

La Nuova Musica, David Bates

Couperin, F: Seconde Leçon, à une voix

Work length12:42

$5.00

$6.25

$8.00

Elizabeth Watts, David Bates, La Nuova Musica

I. Vau. Et egressus est

Track length2:11

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

II. Zain. Recordata est Jerusalem

Track length3:16

$1.00

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$1.60

III. Heth. Peccatum peccavit Jerusalem

Track length1:54

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$1.60

IV. Heth. Peccatum peccavit Jerusalem

Track length2:47

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V. Jerusalem, convertere

Track length2:34

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

Brossard: Sonate en trio en La Mineur, SdB. 223

Work length5:04

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

La Nuova Musica, David Bates

Couperin, F: Leçons de ténèbres pour le mercredy, Troisième Leçon

Work length11:56

$6.00

$7.50

$9.60

Lucy Crowe, Elizabeth Watts, La Nuova Musica, David Bates

I. Jod. Manum suam misit hostis

Track length1:39

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

II. Caph. Omnis populis ejus

Track length1:46

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$1.60

III. Lamed. O vos omnes

Track length2:37

$1.00

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$1.60

IV. Mem. De excelso misit ignem

Track length1:47

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V. Nun. Vigilavit jugum

Track length1:56

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

VI. Jerusalem, convertere

Track length2:11

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

Brossard: Stabat Mater, SdB. 8

Work length15:55

$12.00

$15.00

$19.20

La Nuova Musica, James Arthur, Edward Grint, David Bates

I. Stabat mater dolorosa

Track length1:04

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

II. Cujus animam gementem

Track length0:54

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III. O quam tristis

Track length1:49

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IV. Quae maerebat et dolebat

Track length0:37

$1.00

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V. Quis est homo

Track length1:19

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$1.60

VI. Pro peccatis suae gentis

Track length0:44

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

VII. Vidit suum dulcem natum

Track length1:20

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

VIII. Eia mater, fons amoris

Track length1:36

$1.00

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$1.60

IX. Sancta Mater, istud agas

Track length1:00

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

X. Tui nati vulnerati

Track length0:58

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

XI. Virgo virginum praeclara

Track length1:38

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

XII. Fac ut portem Christi mortem

Track length2:56

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

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About

François Couperin's 'Leçons de Ténèbres' (c. 1713-17), a setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, fused devotional expression with a dramatic performing style embodied here by sopranos Lucy Crowe and Elizabeth Watts. Two Trio Sonatas and a 'Stabat Mater' by Sébastien de Brossard round out this luminous programme.

La Nuova Musica was founded by its artistic director David Bates in 2007 whilst in residency at Snape Maltings and was hailed by BBC Radio 3 as “one of the most exciting consorts in the early music field”. They are regular contributors at Aldeburgh Music, St John’s Smith Square, London Handel Festival, Wigmore Hall and Spitalfields Music. Highlights of 2015 were a performance of 'Acis and Galatea' at SJSS which received a 5* review in The Times, describing it as “a reading that sparkled from the giddy overture to the consoling final chorus” followed by a concert performance of Cesti’s 'Orontea', where “Bates’ conducting had superb poise, and the cast was impeccable, with not a weak link anywhere” (The Guardian).

In 2016 LNM will also record Pergolesi's 'Stabat Mater' and Bach Cantatas with Lucy Crowe and Tim Mead. Concert performance highlights for 2016 include Handel’s 'Berenice' at the Göttingen Internationale Händel Festspiele; their debut at the Salzburg Festival with Bejun Mehta; and an exciting collaboration with American choreographer Zack Winokur on Purcell’s 'Dido and Aeneas' at the Brighton International Festival, with Dame Ann Murray singing the title role.

Reviews

December 2016

Crowe here offers an intense and dramatic reading of the first Leçon … Elizabeth Watts takes centre stage in the second setting – her voice plummy and voluptuous … The two join in an impassioned and operatically-inspired performance of the final Leçon … the performing forces are expanded for Brossard’s highly-charged setting of the Stabat Mater, its grief-filled text delivered with raw and plangent expressivity.

October 2016

a dramatic, well-paced performance that shows Brossard’s slender if learned talent to best effect. Unlike Schneebeli, who employed boy sopranos and Old French pronunciation of the Latin texts, Bates produces a more modern, full-bodied sound, and it is the grands choeurs rather than the petits choeurs that most impress.

January 2017

Having two soloists of the calibre of Lucy Crowe and Elizabeth Watts ensures that the vocal line positively gleams, and there is a beautifully limpid quality throughout. They are flexible yet also a little fragile, well suited to the pleading nature of the text…Brossard’s Trio Sonatas provide some earnest instrumental variety. They're beautifully played, and the thin string tone adds a plangent air to what you find in the more explicitly penitential vocal music

8th September 2016

Two of the UK’s finest early music voices divvy up Les Leçons de Ténèbres…Crowe is ecstatic and golden, ravishing in her upper flourishes…Watts is grainier, softer-edged, earthier. When they sing together in the third lesson, the combination is breathtaking

The Classical Reviewer 26th September 2016

Bates directs some very fine performances here. Both instrumentalists and voices of La Nuova Musica are terrific as are the two soloists in the Trois Leçons de Tenebres, Lucy Crowe and Elizabeth Watts. The excellent SACD recording is set in a lovely acoustic with a real sense of presence and detail.

Record Review 24th September 2016

such an intelligent choice of voices…both with a lovely purity and clarity, both ornamenting effectively, with Crowe’s more tightly focussed sound contrasting very well with Watt’s more voluptuous tone and vibrato.

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François Couperin: Leçons de Ténèbres

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