Lecons de tenebres were, by the 18th century, chiefly a French tradition, settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah in nine groups (three each for the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Easter week). Many readers will, I am sure, be familiar with the examples by Charpentier, Lalande and Francois Couperin. These examples by Franz Xaver Richter, better known as a first-generation Mannheim symphonist, are rather later, believed to date from about 1773, by which time Richter was Kapellmeister at Strasbourg Cathedral. They lack the cool gravity and the almost mystical character of the French settings, and the prefatory settings of the Hebrew letter names are much simpler than the florid ones favoured by the French. Some, in fact, are in effect galant songs and one or two are even quite cheerful in tone. But the colour is predominantly sombre and the textures are quite dark (tenebrous, in fact) and thick. The examples for tenor and alto have two violas and solo cello, or three cellos, with continuo; those for soprano call for two flutes, solo cello and continuo and the ones for bass have two bassoons, solo cello and continuo. This, then, is mostly warm-sounding, reflective music, much of it in minor keys, carefully and skilfully written, and with more chromatic colouring of the text than is usual in mid-18th-century music.
It is impressively performed by these soloists and the Ensemble Stradivaria. Gilles Ragon is particularly successful in catching the hint of religious fervour in the music, although the countertenor, Pascal Bertin, also phrases very expressively and sings with even tone and a clear ring to the voice. Peter Harvey’s cool and graceful singing gives much pleasure, and Isabelle Poulenard, although once or twice sounding hard-pressed, shows some passion in the soprano pieces. The instrumental playing is gently shaded. Altogether an interesting disc.'