Clerambault: Chants et Motets /Mandrin, Les Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Just like Antonio Vivaldi in Venice, Nicolas Clérambault in Versailles was in charge of a well-known ensemble of musical young ladies. While Vivaldi was chapelmaster of a well-endowed orphanage, Clérambault worked at Saint-Cyr, a school for the daughters of impoverished noblemen founded by Madame de Maintenon (mistress of Louis XIV). The latter-day "Damsels of St.-Cyr" give flawless performances of some of Clérambault's motets, hymns and chants. (Yes, many French Baroque composers indeed composed plainchant in a French Baroque style.) The beginning of this record is a stunner: 30 seconds of unaccompanied unison singing that combines the purity of Gregorian chant with the graciousness of the French Baroque style, followed immediately by some spine-tingling suspensions at the opening of the penitential Psalm-motet Miserere. The remainder of the disc presents motets and chants for various parts of the liturgical year, all mixing elegance, piety, and (often) good cheer--only to finish with De profundis, a Psalm-motet for burial services as strikingly anguished in its way as the Miserere. --Matthew Westphal

Tracks:

Miserere
Motets pour le calendrier de l'Eglise
Hodie Christus natus est
Gloria in excelsis Deo
Domine ante te
IMmolabit haedum
Ad caenam Agni providi
Regina caeli laetare
Hodie Maria virgo caelos ascendit
Factum est silentium in caelo
Exultate Deo
De profundis clamavi

Amazon.com

Just like Antonio Vivaldi in Venice, Nicolas Clérambault in Versailles was in charge of a well-known ensemble of musical young ladies. While Vivaldi was chapelmaster of a well-endowed orphanage, Clérambault worked at Saint-Cyr, a school for the daughters of impoverished noblemen founded by Madame de Maintenon (mistress of Louis XIV). The latter-day "Damsels of St.-Cyr" give flawless performances of some of Clérambault's motets, hymns and chants. (Yes, many French Baroque composers indeed composed plainchant in a French Baroque style.) The beginning of this record is a stunner: 30 seconds of unaccompanied unison singing that combines the purity of Gregorian chant with the graciousness of the French Baroque style, followed immediately by some spine-tingling suspensions at the opening of the penitential Psalm-motet Miserere. The remainder of the disc presents motets and chants for various parts of the liturgical year, all mixing elegance, piety, and (often) good cheer--only to finish with De profundis, a Psalm-motet for burial services as strikingly anguished in its way as the Miserere. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

Stunning.......2006-01-05

Here is a disc of such beauty that I cannot recommend it highly enough. The other reviewer has ably explained a bit about it, and I want to reinforce his opinion.

The Miserere (Psalm 50) has often been set very successfully, but this one here is one of the most beautiful. The texture of high female voices is quite unique to the French baroque, and is used to great advantage here. Clerambault's music has tremendous emotional power, and reflects the text effectively.

This is a release not to be missed.

A Revelation, Intensely Refreshing.......2004-10-25

Although the music on this CD is perhaps not quite as beautiful as Emmanuel Mandrin's Charpentier recording ('Grace et grandeurs de la Vierge'), it is nonetheless a revelation. Nicolas Clérambault (1676 - 1749) is one of those French baroque composers whose works have lain dormant for nearly 300 years. Over the past decade or so, some of his cantatas and instrumental works have been re-discovered (including a lovely Naxos disc by soprano Sandrine Piau). Now the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles has come up with this collection of motets written for the 'Royale Maison de Saint-Louis à Saint-Cyr', i. e. exclusively for female voices. Emmanuel Mandrin's ensemble 'Les Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr' is, of course, ideal for this repertoire: Six high sopranos and three mezzos, accompanied by a bass viol and an organ, that makes for some heady listening. The major piece here is the opening 'Miserere', 25 minutes of incredibly beautiful singing, including some excruciating dissonances at points in the text where Clérambault wanted to emphasize emotions such as regret. The other ten motets on this recording follow the church calendar; some of them are performed by several voices, a couple are performed by soloists (including a breathtakingly beautiful 'Regina caeli laetare' by Donatienne Michel-Dansac). All in all, 69 minutes of intensely refreshing listening, marred only very slightly by the background noise on the recording, caused perhaps by the acoustics at the recording venue, the Abbaye de Saint-Michel en Thiérache. The recording was made by Radio France in 1993.

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

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