William Christie, Les Arts Florissants - Marc-Antoine Charpentier: In Divertissements, Airs et Concerts (1999)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 342 Mb | Total time: 73:15 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Erato | 3984-25485-2 | Recorded: 1998
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 342 Mb | Total time: 73:15 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Erato | 3984-25485-2 | Recorded: 1998
This is a mixed bag, but it is a mixture of wonderful stuff put together with considerable expertise. Marc-Antoine Charpentier was a major composer of the French Baroque, served at the Sainte-Chappelle in Paris, and wrote much music of solemnity and grandeur, but was also principal composer for the Comedie Française where he wrote music of a lighter nature. What we get here is mainly the latter, more directly entertaining Charpentier, and we get it in the forms of airs serieux, which are refined songs intended for court circles, and airs a boire, in a more popular style.