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Reviewer: Bertil
van Boer After the death of Jean-Baptiste Lully, the musical dictator at the court of Louis XIV, succession was a matter of some political intrigue. Without going into the details of this, suffice it to say that a church composer, Michel-Richard de Lalande (also spelled Delalande), rose to become the head of music at the French court, retaining this position until his death in 1726. As I give details elsewhere in this issue (see my review of the recording of his instrumental Symphonies pour les Soupers du Roy), I will not reiterate them here, save to mention that the bulk of his huge oeuvre was dedicated to the composition of sacred music, for which he first achieved his reputation as a composer in the final decade of the 17th century. Not surprisingly, much of this consists of Louis’s favorite genre, the motet (both large and small), but Lalande was able to create other liturgical works, apart from the Mass, for many of the important days in the church calendar. Indeed, when the Concerts Spirituels began in 1725, Lalande’s works were popular immediately among the larger Parisian public. Since initially the Concerts were given during Lent, the cycle of Leçons de Tenebre (based upon the Lamentations of Jeremiah, replete with Hebrew letters at the head of each verse) were often done as the season drew to a close during Holy Week. All composers exercised their talents in these genres, but Lalande appears to have been more active than most, composing no fewer than nine complete sets, according to André Danican Philidor c. 1730. Or, at least that is how many he copied out, so one really does not know how many he may actually have composed. Dating of the works is sporadic, too. Lalande was attempting to revise his music for an edition when he died in 1726, and the excellent booklet notes by Thomas Laconte suggest that the three works which have survived may only have been those the composer was able to finish before his death. Elsewhere in the manuscript tradition, there is the comment that these works, along with the Miserere, were written for the nuns at the Ladies of the Assumption Convent, where they were performed by Lalande’s two daughters (one presumes alternating the movements, since the works are scored only for solo soprano and chorus throughout). Since both died from smallpox in 1711 in their mid-20s, one might backdate this to somewhere between 1700 (when the girls would have been teenagers) and about 1708–1709. In any case, certainly the nuns were involved, and in the 1711 copy by Sébastien de Brossard this composer has filled in the gaps in composition that Lalande left out, and names the harmonization of the alternate verses which originally were in plainchant. Although this disc only presents the surviving Leçons (and the Miserere), it is enough to gauge how the remainder of lost works may have sounded. The result is more than satisfactory. Each of these works unfolds in a stately and thoughtful manner. The soprano has some rather interesting lines that alternate between flowing lyricism and some nicely creative ornamentation. The tempos don’t actually seem faster in these last parts, but the virtuosity is restrained, even as the line is quite florid at times. For example, in the “Asperges me,” the Lombardic inflections give it a lilt that focuses the voice on ornamentation without being too overt. In the Third Leçon of Ash Wednesday the opening “Vide Domine” has some interesting and pungent close harmony which resolves strangely and unexpectedly, outlining the text in which “vile harmony” is noted. In the “Recordare” of the Third Leçon for Good Friday the invocation is poignant and insistent. Lalande chooses his orchestration of viols to thicken out the text, with their soft timbres blending with the voice. In the Miserere, a chorus colophon is added to each section, always in soft homophonic harmony, offsetting the lyrical soprano lines with ponderous and stately conclusions. There is little counterpoint, and at most Lalande uses a frequent ostinato bass, which allows the voice greater freedom to vary the thematic structure and yet provides stability. Add to this the spare connecting pieces of chant, and one has a reflective, even haunting work. Given the focus on Holy Week and the Lenten services leading up to Easter, it takes a group with special talent to bring out the nuances of this series of pieces. Fortunately, the Ensemble Correspondances is the perfect one to do so. Soprano Sophie Karthäuser has a clear and extremely polished voice. With a steady tone and no vibrato it simply soars easily and intimately through the text. The viols counter this with a soft and rich texture, while the choral interjections or codas are sedate and clear in terms of harmony and diction. The continuo group, which includes viols, a lute, a theorbo, and a harpsichord appropriately with a muted stop, is a solid yet fluid underpinning to the upper parts, complementing the soprano easily. In short, the total ensemble effect is excellent. This is one set of works that one really should have in a collection; although appropriately thoughtful for Easter, their reflective moments have that wonderfully haunting sound that opens the world of Lalande’s wonderful sacred set. | ||||
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