Mondonville Grands Motets
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Erato
Magazine Review Date: 10/1997
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 72
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 0630-17791-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Dominus Regnavit |
Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, Composer
(Les) Arts Florissants Chorus (Les) Arts Florissants Orchestra François Bazola, Bass François Piolino, Tenor Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, Composer Maarten Koningsberger, Baritone Maryseult Wieczorek, Soprano Paul Agnew, Tenor Sophie Daneman, Soprano William Christie, Conductor |
| In exitu Israel |
Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, Composer
(Les) Arts Florissants Chorus (Les) Arts Florissants Orchestra François Bazola, Bass François Piolino, Tenor Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, Composer Maarten Koningsberger, Baritone Maryseult Wieczorek, Soprano Paul Agnew, Tenor Sophie Daneman, Soprano William Christie, Conductor |
| De Profundis |
Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, Composer
(Les) Arts Florissants Chorus (Les) Arts Florissants Orchestra François Bazola, Bass François Piolino, Tenor Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, Composer Maarten Koningsberger, Baritone Maryseult Wieczorek, Soprano Paul Agnew, Tenor Sophie Daneman, Soprano William Christie, Conductor |
Author: Lionel Salter
Not much by Mondonville (a contemporary of Gluck and Pergolesi) is currently available on disc except for two of his stage works, Titon et l’Aurore (Erato, 10/92) and Les fetes de Paphos (L’Oiseau-Lyre, 7/97). Pleasing as these are, they give little idea of the striking quality of his grands motets, which were enormously popular for many years at the Concert Spirituel in Paris (of which he was a director for a time). They follow the pattern laid down by Delalande and continued by Rameau, but with more independent instrumental parts and incorporating Italian influences (e.g. da capo arias) and operatic elements. A few of them have been recorded in the past (by Paillard on Erato, 1/81 and Higginbottom, Hyperion, 11/88 – nla), but the three on psalm texts now presented by Christie, in authentic style and with period instruments, are deeply impressive.
Dominus regnavit (1734) was perhaps the earliest of Mondonville’s grands motets (intended for concert, rather than Chapel Royal, performance) and, besides its polyphonic opening chorus (after a symphonie), is notable for two verses entirely for high-register voices and instruments, an operatic tempete, and a stunning complex “Gloria patri”. De profundis (1748), written for the funeral of a Chapel Royal colleague, is by its nature sombre, and ends not with the usual “Gloria patri” but with “Requiem aeternam” and a fugue. The initial chorus was praised to the sky by contemporaries as “sublime”: other highlights are a baritone aria over a free chaconne bass, and a chorus illustrating “morning” and “night” by high and low voices respectively. There is even more illustrative music in the 1755 In exitu Israel: what amounts to a dramatic scena, with agitated strings and rushing voices for the “fleeing sea”, jerky repeated chorus notes (an effect borrowed from Lully), dotted figures for the mountains “skipping like rams”, and tremolos and vocal melismas for the “trembling earth”.
The present performances are vivid, with very good soloists (though it’s not very clear who sings what), an alertly responsive chorus and a neat orchestra. This is a valuable addition to the recorded repertoire, and the booklet-note by James R. Anthony is of the highest standard of scholarship.'
Dominus regnavit (1734) was perhaps the earliest of Mondonville’s grands motets (intended for concert, rather than Chapel Royal, performance) and, besides its polyphonic opening chorus (after a symphonie), is notable for two verses entirely for high-register voices and instruments, an operatic tempete, and a stunning complex “Gloria patri”. De profundis (1748), written for the funeral of a Chapel Royal colleague, is by its nature sombre, and ends not with the usual “Gloria patri” but with “Requiem aeternam” and a fugue. The initial chorus was praised to the sky by contemporaries as “sublime”: other highlights are a baritone aria over a free chaconne bass, and a chorus illustrating “morning” and “night” by high and low voices respectively. There is even more illustrative music in the 1755 In exitu Israel: what amounts to a dramatic scena, with agitated strings and rushing voices for the “fleeing sea”, jerky repeated chorus notes (an effect borrowed from Lully), dotted figures for the mountains “skipping like rams”, and tremolos and vocal melismas for the “trembling earth”.
The present performances are vivid, with very good soloists (though it’s not very clear who sings what), an alertly responsive chorus and a neat orchestra. This is a valuable addition to the recorded repertoire, and the booklet-note by James R. Anthony is of the highest standard of scholarship.'
Mondonville Grands Motets
Discover the world's largest classical music catalogue with Presto Music.
Gramophone Digital Club
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £8.75 / month
Subscribe
Gramophone Full Club
- Print Edition
- Digital Edition
- Digital Archive
- Reviews Database
- Full website access
From £11.00 / month
Subscribe
If you are a library, university or other organisation that would be interested in an institutional subscription to Gramophone please click here for further information.