As we approach the 350th anniversary of Charpentier's birth, record companies, with Erato in the vanguard, seem poised to make further explorations into his expressively rewarding and plentiful musical legacy. Perhaps in this instance 'further explorations' is paltering with the truth for, as it happens, well over half the music on this two-disc package has been previously recorded and by none other than Erato itself. The dramatic motet Mors Saulis et Jonathae (H403) was issued on a single LP ten years ago, and the three Tenebrae Lessons (H135-7) were included among an anthology of nine such pieces in a two-LP box issued as recently as 1986; two of these Tenebrae, furthermore, (H135 and 137) are currently available on a CD reissue of selected items from the LP album. Readers may wonder why I am mildly protesting and it is, of course, that when there is so much of Charpentier's music still waiting to be recorded it seems a waste of resources to ignore at least respectable versions of pieces already in stock, so-to-speak; the duplicated material in this instance amounts to over 64 minutes.
Charpentier enthusiasts and others, too, I hope, will be attracted at least by the remaining items included in this new release from Ton Koopman, his soloists and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Common to each piece, though to a varying extent, is the double choir element which has been a raison d'etre for the recording. New to the catalogue, I believe, are the dramatic motets Canticum pro pace (H392), Josue (H404), Praelium Michaelis archangeli factum in coelo cum dracone (H410) and the psalm Quam dilecta (H167). Mors Saulis et Jonathae and Josue, which deals with Joshua's invasion of the Promised Land, recall the oratorios of Charpentier's teacher, Carissimi. Mors Saulis is a strikingly dramatic work as indeed is Praelium Michaelis whose text describes the war in heaven between the good and fallen angels. Charpentier rises to the occasion magnificently but here, as on many other occasions, Koopman, in a manner wholly uncharacteristic of him, seems to play down the composer's lively sense of theatre. Sadly, only the first part of the work has survived but hearing it now for the first time makes one realize that the loss is a deeply regrettable one.
Problems in performance which I felt in the dramatic works with their characterized soloists are also present in the Tenebrae and psalm. Koopman seems to have a strong overall concept and he shapes the music sensitively and affectingly but too many of its gestures are underplayed and too many of its colours lack lustre. Surely the strings could have achieved a little more vigour and bite in the characteristic ritornello preceding the chorus describing the siege of Gibeon in Josue; and I certainly am left with a strong impression that some singers are more at home than others with a French baroque idiom. In this matter the doyen of Charpentier singers over the past decade or so, Dominique Visse, is comfortably ahead of the others in his fluent and affecting declamation. Indeed he is perhaps the only singer here who fully realizes the often agonizing intensity of Charpentier's writing. His opposite number Kai Wessel is no match for him either in timbre or in vocal security. The soprano Barbara Schlick is as alluring as ever yet she inclines towards a blandness of expression where greater individuality would have been welcome. The tenor, Christoph Pregardien, is never less than reliable but I found the basses Peter Kooy—his name is carelessly misprinted on the first page of the booklet—and Klaus Mertens only intermittently convincing.
For my ears, then, this is only a qualified success. My greatest enjoyment derives from the singing of Visse, who really does understand the many expressive layers of this music, the mainly excellent playing of the strings and the lively continuo support with Koopman himself providing the keyboard realizations. Several other singers turn in secure performances, too, but the imprecise booklet information makes it impossible always to give credit or indeed blame where either is due. Full texts are included in Latin, French, English and German and there is a helpful note by the Charpentier scholar Catherine Cessac. An interesting release which may not, however, fulfil expectation.'