Lalande: Music for The Sun King

*****
A rarity, and one to be snapped up! 19 Mar 2008

A relatively obscure recording of French baroque church music would seem at first sight to be an unlikely subject of a case at the High Court, but this disc achieved that remarkable notoriety, and was immediately thereafter taken out of print. I do not wish to go into the rights and wrongs of the matter, but the case concerned the extent to which editors of musical scores can claim rights as composers, and, to put it bluntly, the record company lost. Which is a great, great shame, as this really is an excellent disc, presenting music by a composer who has been rather overshadowed by the greater luminaries of his age such as Rameau, Couperin and Lully.

The CD includes two "grand-motettes" (the Te Deum and Venite) which were performed at the court of Louis XIV. Given that King's predilection for all things gold and shiny, it is only natural that the music for the chapel royal should be equally grand. So, to accompany the royal religiosity, we have a large choir, a small choir of soloists and an orchestra replete with brass, wind and percussion. And what a great noise they make! In typical French style the counterpoint is restrained, but the rhythms are elegant, even swinging at times, and contrast is achieved through variety of orchestration and vocal scoring.

The works themselves consist of many short sections, varying in tempo, and many last less than a minute. There are some entirely solo sections, but the majority are either for small groups of soloists or the larger choir, lending a very satisfying variety to the whole.

A real highlight of the disc is the inclusion of the single movement "Panis Angelicus", taken from another motet, and sung quite exquisitely by Caroline Sampson, who possesses an excellent voice for this repertoire. And the same can be said for the other soloists: James Mustard and Jonathan Gunthorpe are outstanding bass soloists, and James Gilchrist and Paul Agnew provide excellent tenor work. The other soprano part is taken by Natalie Clinton-Griffith, whose light tone contrasts pleasingly with Sampson's richer sound. The choir is as good as we have come to expect from Ex Cathedra (that is, very good indeed), and the orchestral playing is full of flair, but always technically spot-on.

So, not only will this disc be an interesting addition to the other banned CDs in your collection, but also provide hours of real listening pleasure.