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Reviewer:
Richard Lawrence ‘Possibly of Irish origin’, says Grove, but the booklet-note states firmly that Henry Madin (1698-1748) was the son of a soldier from Galway stationed near Verdun. Orphaned as a baby, Madin was educated by the Jesuits and ordained priest. Musical posts at a number of cathedrals including Bourges and Rouen led to his appointment as sous-maître de musique of the Chapel Royal at Versailles in 1738 and maître de pages (the choirboys) four years later. This disc is a recording of a concert given in that very chapel last year.
However, the first performance of the Te Deum was not given at Versailles. It took place in Paris to celebrate the capture of Freiburg im Breisgau in 1744, during the War of the Austrian Succession. Lasting some 45 minutes, it includes many triumphant passages, trumpet and timpani well to the fore. The opening ‘Te Deum laudamus’ begins with the trumpet and a lively solo, extremely well sung by an unidentified haute-contre whose distinctive tone recalls that of the American countertenor Russell Oberlin. At the end, where ‘non confundar’ is followed by a prayer for the king, the manner is similarly forthright. But many of the other movements verge on the contemplative, often in the minor key. ‘Pleni sunt caeli’, given to a solo bass, is slow and restrained; the soprano duet ‘Te per orbem’ is similarly thoughtful. Much of the choral writing is contrapuntal; despite a resonant acoustic – hear the echo at the end of ‘tibi Cherubim’! – the engineers have captured the detail very well.
Diligam te,
Domine
is a setting of verses from Psalm 18. With more modest scoring, compared to the
Te Deum, Madin still writes vividly: repeated crotchets in the strings
under an agitated violin line represent an earthquake; a lovely flowing
bass-line accompanies the sole duet. Daniel Cuiller is well in command of his
forces in both pieces; worth investigating. |
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