Until about 15 years ago these two sacred works by Charpentier were the most prominent among a very small number of pieces available to record enthusiasts. Since then Michel Corboz and William Christie, above all, have demonstrated some of the wealth of music of comparable excellence by this great seventeenth-century master. The earlier of these reissues is that featuring the choir of King's College Cambridge. In the Te Deum recorded in 1978, the voices are joined by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under Philip Ledger's direction. The Christmas Mass based on French Christmas carols, on the other hand, is performed with the English Chamber Orchestra under Sir David Willcocks, and was recorded in 1967. Jean-Claude Malgoire's accounts of the Te Deum and the Mass date from 1979 and 1982 respectively.
The performances in their different ways bring out much of the grandeur in the Te Deum and the tender intimacy of the Messe de Minuit. Ledger gives a robust account of the former, though he is less concerned with French stylistic conventions of the time than Malgoire. No double-dotting for him, for instance, and ornamentation, vocal and instrumental, is variable in its execution. Malgoire has a surer feeling for such matters, yet his orchestra of period instruments are decidedly rough-textured and lacking in finesse. Both he and Ledger prefer flutes to the recorders which Charpentier almost certainly intended, and both prefer male altos, solo and choral, to the high tenors who would have sung these parts in Charpentier's time.
Whereas Ledger almost entirely eschews dotted rhythms Willcocks wholeheartedly embraces them in his performance of the Messe de Minuis but in this music, more than in the Te Deum recorders as opposed to transverse flutes play an important part in Charpentier's delicately wrought textures. Flutes, alas, prevail here along with falsetto as opposed to high tenor or haute-contre to the considerable detriment of the composer's subtle vocal and instrumental colouring. Malgoire captures the spirit of this enchanting music more faithfully yet he by no means always respects the composer's intentions, why, for instance, play the offertory carol following the Credo on the organ when Charpentier specifically requests violins? Willcocks inserts a substantial but unidentified string fantasy at this point in the score whose part writing betrays a later, indeed I suspect much later, hand. Malgoire like Willcocks, uses a falsetto voice rather than a high tenor for the haute-contre tessitura.
To sum up, neither version does full justice to Charpentier's music. If you place polished ensemble above matters of style then the King's, Cambridge version may suit you better than the often scrappy singing and playing on the French disc. Malgoire, however, does seem to me to capture the spirit of the music more convincingly than either Willcocks or Ledger, while at the same time constantly reminding us of the need-for a satisfying and faithful performance of the Mass. Joel Cohen and the Boston Camerata came close to it in a Desmar LP recording issued by Telefunken in 1978 but long ago deleted. William Christie and Les Arts Florissants on Harmonia Mundi will probably satisfy those in search of a stylish and exciting performance of the Te Deum. Both booklets contain full texts but the CBS one, in spite of informative notes, is carelessly assembled with no mention whatsoever of tracks 14–17.'