Louis-Nicolas Clérambault: Motets – Armengaud

Choir & Organ (Jan, 2018)
Now for two French near-contemporaries: Clérambault’s Motets à trois voix d’hommes et symphonies, performed by Ensemble Sébastien de Brossard, have an agreeable lightness, but the dry sound-quality robs some of the power to persuade from the unrestrained elegance of their playing and the efficient, enthusiastic singing. Couperin’s justly celebrated Leçons de ténèbres are enhanced by appropriate acoustic bloom and perfect perspective in Arcangelo’s fine recording, featuring L’Apothéose de Lully: a compellingly atmospheric reading, poised and declamatory without egocentricity. …