Charpentier, M-A
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Lully, Charpentier & Desmarets: Passion
RecommendedVéronique Gens (soprano)
Ensemble Les Surprises, Les Chantres du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, Louis-Noël Bestion de Camboulas
Words are Gens’s secret weapon. She brings out their meanings and sonic qualities like no other singer: spiked rhythms register her vitriol, towering anger splits open her vowels on top notes... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, August 2021
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
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International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Nominated - Baroque Vocal
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Gramophone Awards, 2022, Finalist - Voice & Ensemble
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The Sound of the Trumpet
RecommendedPeter Hurford (organ), Alan Stringer (trumpet), Gwynne Howell (bass), John Wilbraham (trumpet), Philip Jones (trumpet), Leslie Pearson (organ), The Michael Laird Brass Ensemble, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, London Festival Orchestra, Sir Neville Marriner, Elgar...
Awards:
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Special offer. Barricades
RecommendedJean Rondeau (harpsichord), Thomas Dunford (lute), Lea Desandre (mezzo-soprano), Marc Mauillon (baritone), Myriam Rignol (viola da gamba)
Though still both around 30, Dunford and Rondeau are already steeped in this rich and subtle repertoire, and play it like they own it …Both also like to indulge in some slowish tempos, but Dunford’s... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 5th June 2020
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Special offer. Charpentier: Orphée aux enfers
RecommendedReinoud Van Mechelen (tenor), A Nocte Temporis, Philippe Froeliger, Déborah Cachet, Geoffroy Buffière, Stefanie True, Clara Coutouly, Raphael Höhn, A Vocte Temporis, Victoria Cassano, Zsuzsi Tóth, Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier
Van Mechelen is a seductive Orpheus – small wonder that his limpid, pliant, expressive voice and eloquent diction enchants both his nymph-bride Eurydice (brought to life here by the dewy-voiced... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 17th January 2020
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BBC Music Magazine, March 2020, Opera Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2020
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Special offer. Charpentier: La couronne de fleurs & La descente d'Orphée aux enfers
RecommendedAaron Sheehan (tenor), Teresa Wakim (soprano), Amanda Forsythe (soprano), Douglas Williams (bass-baritone), Jesse Blumberg (baritone), Dorothee Mields (soprano), Mireille Lebel (mezzo-soprano), Jason McStoots (tenor), Zachary Wilder (tenor)
Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Boston Early...
Sheehan, who sings the role of Orpheus, [delivers] a finely nuanced interpretation...Amanda Forsythe is a charming Euridice and Roselie, Teresa Wakim a beautifully styled Flore, and Dorothee... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, September 2014, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Awards, 2015, Finalist - Baroque Vocal
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Grammy Awards, 57th Awards (2014), Best Opera Recording
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Opera, August 2014, Recording of the Month
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Don’t expect high drama and showy vocals: Charpentier’s idiom is subtly understated, and the Latin texts…were intended to edify rather than entertain. Sebastien Daucé judges their tone sensitively... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, April 2019
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Diapason d’Or, June 2019
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Gramophone Magazine, July 2019, Recording of the Month
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Limelight Magazine Recordings of the Year, 2019, Nominated - Vocal
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Both works are exceptionally well sung by Le Concert Spirituel's team of sopranos, who tackle the complex scores with deceptive ease and sound more like the cloistered nuns of Longchamp Abbey... —
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Charpentier: Baroque Christmas
RecommendedSam Boden, Florian Störtz, Hilary Cronin, Edward Ross, Ruairi Bowen, Keri Fuge
English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, Christophe Rousset
Rousset nurtures suave sophistication throughout In nativitatem Domini canticum...A mirthful march is followed by the world-class choir and Rousset milking beauty and rhetorical intelligence... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 5th December 2025
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Spanning four centuries, this gorgeous recital from a couple who were brought together through a mutual love of French Baroque is absolutely hypnotic stuff...Desandre's limpid, flexible mezzo... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, October 2023
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