Les Arts Florissants, William Christie

Harmonia Mundi have bundled together the famous Te Deum de Charpentier, performed by William Christie, and The Deum of De Lalande.

‘Te Deum, H. 146, Missa “Assumpta est Maria”, H. 11 & Litanies de la Vierge, H. 83’: In 1989, William Christie and Les Arts Florissants recorded some of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s finest sacred music for Harmonia Mundi: his celebrated Te Deum alongside two deeply moving works dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Shunning any kind of aesthetic diktat, they pioneered a sensitive, personal style of interpretation for these pieces that appears perfectly apt and natural.

‘De Lalande: Te Deum’: Called the ‘Latin Lully’ (whose worthy successor he was for 43 years under Louis XIV and Louis XV), De Lalande took the ‘grand motet’ practised at Versailles to the peak of its glory and its popularity. The Te Deum of 1684 is the epitome of his achievement in the genre and it was organised, composed and performed with the care reserved for true masterpieces. The listener will be equally astonished by the manner in which De Lalande sets the words of Psalms 110 (111) and 137, whose emotional impact goes far beyond the conventions

• Charpentier, M-A: Litanies de la Vierge, H83
• Charpentier, M-A: Marches pour les Trompettes H.547
• Charpentier, M-A: Missa 'Assumpta est Maria', H. 11
• Charpentier, M-A: Te Deum, H146
• Lalande: Confitebor tibi Domine, S56
• Lalande: Super flumina Babilonis (1687), Psaume 137
• Lalande: Te Deum laudamus S32