Couperin: Lecons De Tenebres - La Nuova Musica, David Bates (Hybrid SACD)

La Nuova Musica

David Bates - Conductor

Lucy Crowe - Soprano

Elizabeth Watts - Soprano

James Arthur - Baritone

Edward Grint - Bass

François Couperin (1668-1733) served as harpsichordist to Louis XIV and was famed for reforming elegant chamber music of the French court in the more impassioned Italian style of the time. For his Leçons de Ténèbres (c. 1713-17), a setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, “Couperin le Grand” 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 (1655-1730) round out this luminous programme.

François Couperin [1668-1733]

Première Leçon, à une voix

1I. Incipit Lamentatio Jeremiae prophetae0'41
2II. Aleph. Quomodo sedet sola 2'16
3III. Beth. Plorans ploravit in nocte 3'41
4IV. Ghimel. Migravit Juda 1'50
5V. Daleth. Viae Sion lugent 2'28
6VI. He. Facti sunt hostes 3'08
7VII. Jerusalem, convertere 3'36
Sébastien de Brossard [1655-1730]

8Sonate en trio (mi mineur), SdB. 220 7'07
François Couperin [1668-1733]

Seconde Leçon, à une voix

9I. Vau. Et egressus est 2'11
10II. Zain. Recordata est Jerusalem 3'17
11III. Heth. Peccatum peccavit Jerusalem 1'54
12IV. Heth. Peccatum peccavit Jerusalem 2'48
13V. Jerusalem, convertere 2'35
Sébastien de Brossard [1655-1730]

14Sonate en trio (la mineur), SdB. 223 5'04
François Couperin [1668-1733]

Troisième Leçon, à deux voix

15I. Jod. Manum suam misit hostis 1'40
16II. Caph. Omnis populis ejus 1'46
17III. Lamed. O vos omnes 2'38
18IV. Mem. De excelso misit ignem 1'48
19V. Nun. Vigilavit jugum 1'56
20VI. Jerusalem, convertere 2'06
Sébastien de Brossard [1655-1730]

Stabat Mater, SdB. 8

21I. Stabat mater dolorosa 1'05
22II. Cujus animam gementem 0'54
23III. O quam tristis 1'49
24IV. Quae maerebat et dolebat0'37
25V. Quis est homo 1'19
26VI. Pro peccatis suae gentis0'45
27VII. Vidit suum dulcem natum 1'21
28VIII. Eia mater, fons amoris 1'37
29IX. Sancta Mater, istud agas 1'01
30X. Tui nati vulnerati 0'59
31XI. Virgo virginum praeclara 1'38
32XII. Fac ut portem Christi mortem 2'57