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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lost and Found, November 22, 2004
This review is from: Charpentier: Musique Sacrée (Audio CD)
Very little is known about Charpentier's life (1643-1704). The main source of information is an obscure rival composer named de Brossard. According to de Brossard, Charpentier was originally from Paris but studied music in Rome under the composer Carissimi. In 1696 he beat out de Brossard for the post of choirmaster at the Sainte Chapelle Cathedral in Paris, where he remained until his death in 1704. As Goebels writes in the album liner notes, there are several reasons for Charpentier's neglect as a composer. First, he has traditionally been relegated to that band of other composers who were "Lully's imitators". Secondly, his music is "not easy listening, being neither instantly memorable nor readily digestible. Rather it is highly demanding and not always accessible to every listener from the outset." However, it is related that even de Brossard paid tribute to him, praising him as the "most profound and learned of modern composers."
Even if you love baroque music, gaining an appreciation of this music will take some time. But once you have put forth the effort, and assuming you do enjoy period baroque, you will not want to remove this disc from your changer, it is so amazingly good, no small thanks to Goebel and the Musica Antiqua Koln. And if that's not recommendation enough, included in this album is a bonus disc which celebrates 25 years of Musica Antiqua Koln on the Archiv Produktion label. Here's what's included on that disc: Heinichen's Concerto in F major, J.S. Bach's Suite in B minor, J.C. Bach's Andante de Molto, Handel's Haec est Regina virginum, J.S. Bach's Sinfonia from the Concerto in D after BVW 249, Telemann's Concerto for three oboes, three violins and basso continuo in B-flat major, G.C. Bach's Cantata `Siehe, wie fein und lieblich' (This is an astonishingly beautiful piece!), Vivaldi's "La Follia", and lastly Bach's Third Brandenburg Concerto.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolute Delight, August 8, 2006
This review is from: Charpentier: Musique Sacrée (Audio CD)
This is one of the best recorded CDs I have heard. After listening to this you would feel that Charpentier undoubtedly ranks among the best of baroque composers--with a little twist of his own in his compositions. The first and last pieces in this CD have beautiful Timpani accompanyment with trumptet, violin and flute making some of the incredible and cute cascading that is perky and extremely delightful. In particular, the last piece (26, fanfare) has the thunderous underscoring of timpani. On a review elsewhere someone wrote that this piece has a "rowdy" tone to it--I would say that it is a beautiful and "Pleasantly-Classical-Rowdy" piece.
The bonus CD that comes within this package contains some selected pieces from other CDs made by Music Antiqua Koln and is equally superb. In particular, the performance of Goebel's group for the Easter Oratoria of JS Bach (BWV 249 Sinfonia) deserves superlative praises. WOW! WOW! WOW!--adinfinitum. I could feel the sincererity, dedication and the sheer emotional involvement that seems to come out as you follow each instrument's tonal quality, depth and synchronization, is something that I have never felt in listening to the other recordings that I have listened to, and will probably never see in any group other than Goebel's. There seems to be a sense of strong reverence toward the composer which is built up by the troupe as they play the pieces.
Dear Goebel and his troupe: Many roses from me for making a wonderful performance and recording.
If you are a lover of Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann, Heinichen, Handel then you will enjoy these CDs very much.
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