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Reviewer: Jonathan Freeman‑Attwood Those steeped in the finest lineages of the French Baroque acknowledge Clérambault as a master of the keyboard and a prolific composer of cantatas. What these eight pristine motets for three concertante male voices confirm is an extraordinarily imaginative and accomplished creator of keenly observed devotional musical texts, both dramatic and reflective. While the majority of the works are dominated by common Marian themes, the resourcefulness of scoring, gesture and colour take the listener into realms of contrast belying the conformity of the subject. Indeed, the joy of this project lies in two traits deeply resonant in Clérambault’s favour: a fastidious attention to detail (almost, but not quite, fussy) gleaned from his preparation as a prolific publisher of his work and, not unconnected, an almost evangelical projection of ideas demanding to make themselves heard. The economic but telling graphic imagery of Psalm 76, with ‘the waters shaken by fear’, or the more opulent panegyric on the canonisation of Pope Pius V demonstrate a broad instinct moving effortlessly between the indigenously lyrical and the comparatively rappresentativo elements of Clérambault’s Italianate models. It’s the former that the singers of the Brossard Ensemble seem to relish with the deftest sensibility: the Salve regina, on the surface at least, draws on the kind of inward vocal rhetoric and subtlety of Couperin’s three Leçons de Ténèbres. The only spoiling happens when the haute-contre (the notoriously perilous and specialist tenor fach which Charpentier and Rameau drew upon so characteristically) sears through the ensemble with an uncomfortably astringent timbre. Most convincing are the tightly scored dovetailing trios, such as the glorious ‘Et misericordia’ from the Magnificat. This is music crying out for suppleness and, again, one too often wishes for a softer-edged and more finessed vocal production to make this a release of real distinction. Clérambault’s genius still shines through despite the reservations and a rather boxy recorded sound. |
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