Couperin: Lecons De Tenebres [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Album Details
Only Three Lecons De Tenebres by Couperin Survive, and What Magnificent Works They Are - Tenebrae Lessons for the Wednesday of Holy Week, Composed around 1715. This Powerful, Solemnly Beautiful Music is Performed by a Group of France's Finest Baroque Musicians.

Couperin: Lecons De Tenebres, Music, Veronique Gens, Sandrine Piau, Christophe Rousett, Classical

Couperin - Leçons de Ténèbres / Daneman, Petibon, Les Arts Florissants, Christie
Average customer rating:

Fabulous

Couperin, Lecon de tenebres

Gorgeous, rare recording of the Tenebrae by Couperin

An exquisite shining pearl - perfect, simply perfect.

Couperin - Leçons de Ténèbres / Daneman, Petibon, Les Arts Florissants, Christie
François Couperin , William Christie , Sophie Daneman , Patricia Petibon , Monica Huggett , Marc Hantaï , Anne-Marie Lasla , Emilia Benjamin , and Les Arts Florissants
Manufacturer: Wea International
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Couperin, François | ( C ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
General | Baroque (c.1600-1750) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
Christie, William | ( C ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
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Véronique Gens - Nuit d'étoiles (Mélodies Française) / Vignoles

ASIN: B000005E4Y
Release Date: 2006-03-06

Tracks:

Premiere Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint: Incipit Lamentio - Sophie Daneman
Premiere Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint: Aleph - Sophie Daneman
Premiere Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint: Beth - Sophie Daneman
Premiere Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint: Ghimel - Sophie Daneman
Premiere Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint: Daleth - Sophie Daneman
Premiere Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint: He - Sophie Daneman
Premiere Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint: Jerusalem - Sophie Daneman
Deuxieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Une Voix: Vav - Patricia Petibon
Deuxieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Une Voix: Zain - Patricia Petibon
Deuxieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Une Voix: Heth - Patricia Petibon
Deuxieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Une Voix: Teth - Patricia Petibon
Deuxieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Une Voix: Jerusalem - Patricia Petibon
Trosieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Deux Voix: Yod - Patricia Petibon/Sophie Daneman
Trosieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Deux Voix: Caph - Patricia Petibon/Sophie Daneman
Trosieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Deux Voix: Lamed - Patricia Petibon/Sophie Daneman
Trosieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Deux Voix: Mem - Patricia Petibon/Sophie Daneman
Trosieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Deux Voix:Nun - Patricia Petibon/Sophie Daneman
Trosieme Lecon De Tenebres Pour Le Mercredi Saint A Deux Voix: Jerusalem - Patricia Petibon/Sophie Daneman
Quarte Versets Du Motet: Tabescere me facit - Sophie Daneman/Patricia Petibon
Quarte Versets Du Motet: Ignitum eloquium - Sophie Daneman
Quarte Versets Du Motet: Adolescentulus sum ego - Patricia Petibon/Sophie Daneman
Quarte Versets Du Motet: Justitia tua - Patricia Petibon/Sophie Daneman

Amazon.com

It figures that the ensemble most responsible for the French Baroque revival is the one to outdo Nelson and Kirkby's legendary recording of these lamentation settings. Sophie Daneman and Patricia Petibon don't have the earlier pair's gorgeous, distinctive voices (both occasionally wobble above the staff), but they sound plenty beautiful. More importantly, they've managed to make these major-key pieces sound like lamentations. Twenty years ago, Kirkby and Nelson were pioneers: merely singing with their white tone was risky; they couldn't take many chances with rhythmic freedom. Daneman and Petibon have had time to internalize Couperin's style: they can push ahead here, hold back there, extend an unaccompanied phrase and let it drop off suddenly--following rhetoric more than rhythm, they take your breath away. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous.......2007-05-14

This album is a must for anyone who likes Bach, Desmarest, Lully, Lassus, etc. I heard one of the pieces from this album on WQXR (NY Times Radio) and fell in love with the sopranos. The balance between the voices is fantastic. Whenever I have the CD playing, my friends always ask me who it is and where they can buy it. I feel that Couperin is often overshadowed in the classical radio industry by Bach and Mozart, but this disk is so easy to listen to! Even to an untrained ear, the pieces are beautiful and seem to float from the voices of angels. You will not be disappointed!

Couperin, Lecon de tenebres.......2007-05-14

The CD arrived quickly and it was in impeccable condition. Thanks so much for the prompt delivery and for telling the truth in your ad.

Gorgeous, rare recording of the Tenebrae by Couperin.......2006-11-25

The service of Tenebrae (time of darkness--traditionally celebrated at 3 am) is a Holy Week liturgy taken from the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The other reason for the title "Darkness" is that it is accompanied by the solemn ceremony of stripping the altar before the total eclipse of Good Friday. Lighting is gradually reduced throughout the service, initially being fully lit, frequently by candles which are gradually extinguished as the service progresses, thus the name Tenebrae meaning Darkness is virtually performed as well.

Couperin's settings (composed in 1703) uses a few voices and few instrumentals in the French tradition of the service. This recording features sopranos Patricia Petibon and Sophie Daneman. The performance follows the French tradition also in the pronunciation of the Latin. The conductor took great care to reproduce the performance as the French would have heard it, and if you want the genuine experience, this recording surely comes the closest (as far as we can tell, from historical records.)

An exquisite shining pearl - perfect, simply perfect........2004-04-30

I possess every recording of these leçons that is currently available. As a soprano with a deep love for the baroque repertoire, I have performed these with fellow singer Katrena Mitchell in our duet ensemble "Sounds Sublime". The pieces themselves are as familiar to me as a byte is to a computer expert...

... and there is simply no recording to compete with this one.

It's exquisite from the very opening. In particular when Sophie Daneman and Patricia Petibon sing together, the work between the two and the ravishing vocal blend is something of which dreams are made. The pronunciation of the Latin is beautifully French, as it would have been performed at the time. The ornamentation and musicianship here is superb, as one would expect from a recording conducted by William Christie.

But the two singers are the highlight here, in this most ravishing of performances.

I have an enormous admiration for Emma Kirkby, but the recording of this work with her and Judith Nelson is stiff, unemotional, and blank in comparison with this recording. (I do not admire Nelson's voice, either, however much I admire Kirkby's.) The vocal beauty on this recording is truly sublime - this CD is one I listen to over and over again, always with a sigh and a smile.

Other versions, including a surprisingly bland rendition by Gens and Sandrine Piau, and two good countertenor versions and one not-so-good (oh dear, Deller...) are available, but nothing approaches the shimmering beauty of this version.

The pieces themselves are of heavenly beauty. I've never performed them without seeing audience members weeping with the beauty of the music.

Tracks:

Troisieme Lecon De Tenebres
Premiere Lecon De Tenebres
Motet Pour Le Jour De Paques
Deuxieme Lecon De Tenebres
Magnificat

Couperin - Leçons de ténèbres / Gens, Piau, Les talens lyriques, Rousset

Average customer rating:

Sublime music given a solid performance that falls short of heaven
profoundly affecting

Couperin - Leçons de ténèbres / Gens, Piau, Les talens lyriques, Rousset
François Couperin , Véronique Gens , Sandrine Piau , Emmanuel Balssa , Christophe Rousset , and Les talens lyriques
Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

The Decca Records Store | Specialty Stores | Music
ASIN: B00004R9CL
Release Date: 2000-03-14

Tracks:

Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Incipit Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Aleph
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Beth
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Gimel
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Daleth
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Heth
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Vau
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Zain
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Heth
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Teth
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Jod
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Caph
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Lamed
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Mem
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Nun
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Jerusalem, convertere ad Dominum Deum tuum
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Laetentur coeli (Motet pour le jour de Pacques
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Magnificat
Trois Lecons de tenebres pour le Mercedi saint: Victoria! Christo resurgenti (Motet pour le jour de Paques)

Customer Reviews:

Sublime music given a solid performance that falls short of heaven.......2005-11-28

Veronique Gens and Sandrine Piau are two lovely singers. I own recordings of both of them which are lovely - Piau's Mozart arias is exquisite (better by several degrees than her more recent Handel arias recording, but that too has some fine things), and Gens' extensive recording repertoire from her Mozart to her Berlioz is regularly taken out of my CD shelves to be given another listen.

It was with the expectation of delight that I purchased this recording. To my astonishment, the performance failed to "shimmer", right from the start. It seemed pedestrian, walking where it should float. The blend of the two voices was... well, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't wonderful.

The fault is absolutely not that of the music. Couperin's lamentations are utterly, utterly beautiful. This SHOULD have been a truly gorgeous recording. Don't mistake me - it's not dreadful. The two sopranos, as I've said, are lovely on other recordings. I feel that perhaps they did not share the same vision of the works on this recording, so that they sometimes seem to be pulling away from each other rather than together. In the duet work, this is fatal...

Yet even in the solo portions of the works recorded here, I was not transported with delight. I think it may be at least partly due to the recording itself rather than the singers, but I do have a few quibbles with regard to the singing. Firstly - the Latin is not French Latin, as I've always considered it should be. Secondly, the ornamentation is inconsistent, and doesn't always follow the markings in the score. Thirdly, the tones of both sopranos seemed not to fall into the right sound for the Couperin works. I am at a loss to understand why - really, these two sopranos are so experienced in French baroque works that I fully expected them to have created a delicious performance.

I hovered between 3 and 4 stars for this. I suppose I am very much a person of "Yes, I love this" or "No, I loathe it" - my opinions are rarely tepid. Here, I am confused - because it SHOULD have been wonderful.

There are now quite a number of version of the Couperin "Leçons" available - there's the Kirkby/Nelson (white and bland), the Deller (avoid), the Jacobs/Chance (actually that's not bad! - but I truly think this work finds its apex of beauty sung by sopranos rather than countertenors), the Daniel Taylor/Robin Blaze (quite nice, but here even more than the Jacobs version, I felt the lack of soaring that one gets with two sopranos), and the version of all versions - sung by Patricia Petibon and Sophie Daneman. That version above all is beatiful beyond belief. If you only intend to have one recording of the Couperin "Leçons", I strongly recommend the Petibon/Daneman one, conducted by William Christie.

In fact, to truly understand why I so strongly recommend the alternative version, why not get both this and the Petibon/Daneman one? Listen to them one after the other - the comparison is astonishing.

profoundly affecting.......2000-10-30

Among the few sacred works published during his lifetime, the settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah for matins services of Holy Week are among Francois Couperin's most affecting. The austere beauty of these works, which consist of one or two soprano voices with continuo, is beautifully realized in this recording which is the best of currently available offerings. Sopranos Sandrine Piau and Veronique Gens contribute the right balance of sensuality,reverence, and vocal allure, while Christophe Rousset, organ, and Emmanuel Balssa, bass viol, provide admirable support, matching the singers in their attention to inflections of the text as well as to the contours of the music. A beautiful recording, highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

De Lalande: Leçons de Ténèbres

Manufacturer: Auvidis Astree
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Improvisation | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DET9M
Release Date: 1996-01-01

Tallis: The Lamentations Of Jeremiah The Prophet/Couperin: Lecons Des Ténèbres

Average customer rating:

Not too hot

Tallis: The Lamentations Of Jeremiah The Prophet/Couperin: Lecons Des Ténèbres

Manufacturer: Vanguard Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000023C4
Release Date: 1995-03-21

Tracks:

Part I: Incipit Lamentatio Jeremiae - Alfred Deller/Gerald English/Wilfred Brown/Maurice Bevan/John Frost
Part I Aleph, Quomodo sedet - Alfred Deller/Gerald English/Wilfred Brown/Maurice Bevan/John Frost
Part I: Betn, Plorans ploravit - Alfred Deller/Gerald English/Wilfred Brown/Maurice Bevan/John Frost
Part II: De Lamentatione Jeremaie - Alfred Deller/Gerald English/Wilfred Brown/Maurice Bevan/John Frost
Part II: Chemel, Migravit Judas - Alfred Deller/Gerald English/Wilfred Brown/Maurice Bevan/John Frost
Part II: aleth, Omnes persecutores - Alfred Deller/Gerald English/Wilfred Brown/Maurice Bevan/John Frost
Part II: He, Facti sunt - Alfred Deller/Gerald English/Wilfred Brown/Maurice Bevan/John Frost
First Lesson:Incipit Lamentatio Jeremiae
First Lesson: aleph,m Quomodo sedet
First Lesson: Beth, Plorans ploravit
First Lesson: Ghemel, Migravit Judas
First Lesson: Daleth, Viae Sion lugent
First Lesson: He, Facti sunt
First Lesson: Jerusalem, Jerusalem
Second Lesson: Vau, Eet egressus est
Second Lesson: Zain, Recordata est
Second Lesson: Heth Peccatum peccavit
Second Lesson: Teth, Sordes ejust
Second Lesson: Jerusalem, Jerusalem
Third Lesson: Jod, Manum suam
Third Lesson: Caph, Omnis populus
Third Lesson: Lamed, O vos omnes
Third Lesson: Mem, De excelso misit
Third Lesson: Nun, Vigilavit jugum
Third Lesson: Jerusalem, Jerusalem

Customer Reviews:

Not too hot.......2001-10-15

Ok, maybe we're spoilt a bit by the great early music ensembles around today, but I have to say thatthis recording is very disappointing and doesn't come close to ones by such groups as Pro Cantione Antiqua. It features Alfred Deller at his most idiosyncratic, which is fine in his best repertoire (lutesongs, etc.), but which can be quite excruciating in ths recording. It may not be helped by the way thay were all miked, as there is a lot of Deller and a bit of a mush made of everyone else. One plus to come out of it, though, is the voice of his on, Mark, singing alto and tenor at different times (made possible by transposition from the usual keys). It sounds like a lighter version of Alfred at his most lyrical and smooth. One wonders why he didn't make more of a name for himself as a countertenor.