Couperin: Trois Leçons de Ténèbres

Listen on Presto Music. Free thirty day trial. Find out more.

The two singers complement each other beautifully in the final setting, Kielland's reedy voice, with its somewhat androgynous quality, throwing Sampson's crystalline soprano into high relief... — BBC Music Magazine, June 2013, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 25th Mar 2013
Catalogue No: VIVAT102
Label: Vivat
Length: 78 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Early Music - up to 35% off selected titles

Special offer ends: 04/06/2024

Couperin, F: 3 Leçons de tenébres, Première leçon

Work length18:38

$6.00

$7.80

$10.50

Carolyn Sampson (soprano)
King's Consort
Recorded: 5-7 March 2011
Recording Venue: St. Andrew's Church, Toddington, United Kingdom

No. 1, Incipit Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae - Aleph - Quomodo sedet sola civitas plena populo?

Track length3:12

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 2, Beth - Plorans ploravit in nocte

Track length4:19

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 3, Gimel - Migravit Juda - No. 4a, Daleth

Track length2:35

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 4b, Viae Sion lugent

Track length1:46

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 5, Heth - Facti sunt hostes

Track length3:14

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 6, Jerusalem, convertare ad Dominum Deum tuum

Track length3:32

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Couperin, F: 3 Leçons de tenébres, Seconde leçon

Work length12:18

$5.00

$6.50

$8.75

Marianne Beate Kielland (mezzo-soprano)
King's Consort
Recorded: 5-7 March 2011
Recording Venue: St. Andrew's Church, Toddington, United Kingdom

No. 1, Vau - Et egressus est a filia Sion

Track length2:08

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 2, Zain - Recordata est Jerusalem

Track length2:57

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 3, Heth - Peccatum peccavit Jerusalem

Track length1:51

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 4, Teth - Sordes ejus

Track length2:49

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 5, Jerusalem, convertare ad Dominum Deum tuum

Track length2:33

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Couperin, F: 3 Leçons de tenébres, Troisième leçon

Work length12:45

$5.00

$6.50

$8.75

Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Marianne Beate Kielland (mezzo-soprano)
King's Consort
Recorded: 5-7 March 2011
Recording Venue: St. Andrew's Church, Toddington, United Kingdom

No. 1, Jod - Manum suam misit hostis - No. 2a, Caph

Track length2:32

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 2b, Omnis populus - No. 3a, Lamed

Track length1:47

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 3b, O vos omnes

Track length2:09

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 4, Mem - De excelso misit" - No. 5, Nun - Vigilavit

Track length3:55

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 5, Jerusalem, convertare ad Dominum Deum tuum

Track length2:22

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Marais, M: Pieces de viole, 2me livre: Suite in E minor

Work length7:28

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

King's Consort
Recorded: 5-7 March 2011
Recording Venue: St. Andrew's Church, Toddington, United Kingdom

No. 109, Tombeau pour Monsieur de Ste Colombe

Track length7:28

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Marais, M: Pièces de viole, Book 5, Suite No. 2 in A Major

Work length2:51

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

King's Consort
Recorded: 5-7 March 2011
Recording Venue: St. Andrew's Church, Toddington, United Kingdom

No. 31, Chaconne

Track length2:51

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Couperin, F: Motet pour le jour de Pâques

Work length7:29

$3.00

$3.90

$5.25

Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Marianne Beate Kielland (mezzo-soprano)
King's Consort
Recorded: 5-7 March 2011
Recording Venue: St. Andrew's Church, Toddington, United Kingdom

No. 1, Victoria

Track length3:07

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 2, Sic Jesus pastor bonus

Track length1:53

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 3, O Jesu, salus lux et vita

Track length2:29

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Jean de Sainte-Colombe: Prelude in E Minor

Work length5:00

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Susanne Heinrich (bass viol)
Recorded: 5-7 March 2011
Recording Venue: St. Andrew's Church, Toddington, United Kingdom

Couperin, F: Magnificat

Work length12:04

$4.00

$5.20

$7.00

Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Marianne Beate Kielland (mezzo-soprano)
King's Consort
Recorded: 5-7 March 2011
Recording Venue: St. Andrew's Church, Toddington, United Kingdom

No. 1, Magnificat anima mea Dominum

Track length3:42

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 2, Et misericordia ejus a progenie

Track length3:45

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 3, Suscepit Israel puerum suum

Track length2:20

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 4, Gloria Patri, et Filio

Track length2:17

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

About
Reviews
Explore

About

Ravishing second release on The King’s Consort’s new classical label, VIVAT, features world-renowned British soprano Carolyn Sampson and outstanding Norwegian mezzo Marianne Beate Kielland in entrancingly evocative French Baroque music.

Couperin’s three “Leçons” for Holy Week are vividly atmospheric, highly coloured, richly dissonant, and deeply melancholy, presenting music of an intensity that is quiet unique in Baroque sacred repertoire. The third Leçon is an especial jewel, with gloriously intertwining vocal lines.

Alongside the three extraordinary “Leçons” come two further substantial vocal duets by Couperin: a joyous Easter motet and a fine setting of the Magnificat.

Full-length 79’40” disc also includes stunning solo instrumental tracks, with Gramophone award-winning viol player Susanne Heinrich performing music by Marin Marais and Monsieur de Ste-Colombe (composers featured in the film “Tous les Matins du Monde”).

Recorded at “low” French baroque pitch, A=392, giving unparalleled richness to the vocal and instrumental sonorities.

High quality documentation, first-rate engineering.

“The King’s Consort are set to re-enter the recording catalogue” (Gramophone)

Reviews

June 2013

The two singers complement each other beautifully in the final setting, Kielland's reedy voice, with its somewhat androgynous quality, throwing Sampson's crystalline soprano into high relief and adding a slight edginess that prevents the performances from becoming too saccharine.

May 2013

[Sampson and Kielland] deliver fresh performances that are at once serious, stylish and beautifully judged...Well worth acquiring.

May 2013

the delightful purity and seeming weightlessness of Sampson's voice, at times soaring ethereally in delicate melismas, is perfectly complemented by the warmer character of the Norwegian mezzo-soprano...The instrumental support for the Lecons is discreet, a model of refined restraint...King's own notes are packed with priceless information and valuable insight.

2nd July 2013

There is something about the atmosphere of Robert King’s Ténèbres which makes it more believable than many, and this is a recording which will take you on a very long journey indeed...The King’s Consort musicians create the ideal atmosphere for Couperin’s Lamentations, and both vocal soloists are highly effective and deeply expressive.

10th March 2013

Robert King has always been able to assemble the right people for the right job...he combines the contrasting timbres of Carolyn Sampson (soprano) and Marianne Beate Kielland (mezzo) in sumptuous performances of three works by Couperin. Sampson’s brightness and Kielland’s riper tones beautifully complement each other.

7th April 2013

Another hit for the King Consort's new label Vivat. The gorgeous Trois leçons de ténèbres...are remarkable for their intertwining, sensual dissonances: here the idiomatic (though not vibrato-free) voices of soprano Carolyn Sampson and mezzo Marianne Beate Kielland are recorded quite close, so the detail tells...the eloquent centrepiece is the third lesson for them both, absolutely spine-tingling in its intensity.

29th March 2013

Carolyn Sampson and Marianne Beate Kielland [find] liquid lyricism for the vocal arabesques that Couperin weaves around the introductory letters of the Hebrew alphabet...A disc that brings to life a body of music that fully merits the expressive finesse these performers bring to it.

Early Music Today

Carolyn Sampson is perhaps this country’s leading singer of French baroque repertoire, and in Marianne Beate Kielland she has the ideal partner: the two voices weave around and respond to one another with subtlety and flexibility, and the instrumental playing is no less accomplished.

Offer,Couperin: Trois Leçons de Ténèbres

CD

Downloads

Contents

Download queue