The name of Sebastien de Brossard usually appears in music history books only when its owner is being quoted in his capacity as a revealing theorist and lexicographer. As a composer, mainly of church music (he was in charge of the music at Strasbourg Cathedral from 1687 to 1698, and then at Meaux), his achievements are less often considered next to those of notable contemporaries such as Charpentier and Lalande, but in 1995 the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles devoted one of its annual short festivals to him, and these two new recordings both arise from that occasion.
Four years back, I confessed in a review of some of Brossard’s small-scale motets (Opus 111, 9/93) that I found little to write home about when there was so much similar but better music to choose from, and my first feeling on listening to Il Seminario Musicale’s new recording of petits motets for two voices, two violins and continuo was not much different. The three Lecons des morts show dignity and a certain level of lugubrious emotion, but are not particularly memorable in themselves (why, by the way, do we not get the Deuxieme lecon to complete the set?), and this is even more true of the three-movement Trio Sonata we are also offered. The one piece which the new disc shares with the old one, however, is more worthy of attention. Dialogus poenitentis animae cum Deo is a 15-minute mini-oratorio in which a soul appeals humbly to God for forgiveness, and is accepted with what seems like rather excitable alacrity. Brossard’s treatment of this dialogue has a convincing and flexible ring to it; there is a particularly effective moment when God’s question, “do you abhor sin?”, is eagerly answered in the affirmative even before it is finished. The performances are what we have come to expect from Gerard Lesne’s group: tastefully expressive singing from two of today’s best interpreters of French baroque music (though it is worth remarking that Veronique Gens is not as naturally at home in rapid passagework as Lesne’s other frequent partner, Sandrine Piau), and a slightly less polished contribution from the instrumental players.
Christophe Coin’s disc of Brossard’s three grands motets – large-scale pieces for choir, soloists and orchestra – is a different matter, and, I think, the more recommendable of the two releases. This is surprisingly eventful music, seemingly conceived more for entertainment than for liturgical edification. Canticum eucharisticum pro pace, a 40-minute showpiece written to celebrate the joining of Strasbourg to France, depicts God/Louis XIV as both angry war hero and generous peacemaker, and even includes a dramatic solo for a singer representing the voice of God. The other two motets, too, contain interesting contrasts and a few good descriptive moments of their own. This is certainly a disc to give pleasure; the performances are refined and attractive, even if the choir are a little unfocused and the violins sometimes jarringly forward in the balance – and how nice, just for once, to be free in a French baroque piece from those apparently inevitable trills on the thirds of final chords!'