Music, Montreal, Christopher Jackson, director – Atma SACD2 2338 –
Multichannel SACD, 62 min. ****:
Parisian Marc-Antoine Charpentier traveled to Rome shortly after his
twentieth birthday; the renaissance of music that he experienced there
overwhelmed him and extended his stay to nearly seven years, during
which he immersed himself in all manners of liturgical composition. The
motets and mass included here found their genesis in that period; upon
his return to Paris he secured positions that allowed him to
concentrate on a body of work that stands among the cornerstones of
late-seventeenth century music. All lovers of liturgically based
Baroque music will find this disc full of delights; authentic
instrumentation is employed throughout, and Christopher Jackson
expertly weaves the mesh of voices and instrumental textures provided
by Montreal’s Studio of Ancient Music.
The sound quality is exceptional, and offers a stunning recreation of
the singers and instrumentalists. The miking perspective is close-up,
but there’s still plenty of ambience to help the listener realize a
superb sense of the recorded acoustic. This is my first experience with
the Atma label, and this reference-quality disc surely heralds good
things to come. Very highly recommended!
— Tom Gibbs
