Charles Joseph Van Helmont (1715 90) was a church musician who spent most of his working life at the collegiate church of St Michel et Ste Gudule in Brussels, where he had trained as a boy: first as organist then, after a gap of four years, as maître de chant. He retired in 1777 and was succeeded by his son, Adrien Joseph. His Ténèbres settings for soprano and continuo were composed in 1737 for Notre Dame de la Chapelle, the parish church where he was maître de musique before resuming his employment at Ste Gudule. They are in the usual form of nine leçons, three each for Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. In 1756 he wrote one more of each of the latter two days.

Given that the words are from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, the music is surprisingly, almost relentlessly upbeat. The leçons end with (in Latin) ‘Jerusalem return to the Lord thy God’. Even at the first appearance of the injunction the mood is distinctly cheerful; by Good Friday, the congregation can enjoy hearing a jolly triple-time dance. The music, quite Italianate, is varied – a walking bass here, a dotted rhythm there – but the overall effect is one of blandness. Only occasionally, such as at ‘Aedificavit in gyro meo’ (‘He hath builded against me’) in the third leçon for Thursday (1737), does Van Helmont give a chromatic twist to the predominantly major-key diatonicism. In 1756 Van Helmont wrote two more isolated leçons, for Thursday and Friday. These benefit greatly from the addition of an obbligato cello, which duets with the voice. The Good Friday leçon is an elaboration of its 1737 predecessor, with vigorous roulades towards the end.

Three sopranos sing turn and turn about: all with bright tone, Deborah Cachet warmer than Wei-Lian Huang and Griet De Geyter. The recording was made in Belgium at the St Hilarius church, Bierbeek, the beautifully restored 1775 organ played by Nicolas Achten dominating the continuo group: so much so, indeed, that it’s quite hard to hear the theorbo and harpsichord. Valentin Bajou moves from bass violin to expressive cello for the 1756 numbers. Achten also gives neat performances of the six organ fugues. The performances are accomplished, but Van Helmont doesn’t really deserve such devoted treatment.