MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER (1643-1704): Judith sive Bethulia liberata, H391, Caedes Sactorum Innocentium, H411.

Description: Judith is the first of Charpentier's many histoires sacrées (and, at 42 minutes, likely his longest)- a genre derived directly from his teacher Carissimi - written right after his return from Rome in the late 1660s. Since it consists largely of narrative, Charpentier diversifies his means by using chorus, soloists and trios as narrator with the latter two groups shifting between homophony and imitative counterpoint. The much shorter Caedes deals with Herod's massacre of the children of Bethlehem, its central section offering magnificent warlike and desolate choruses before a radiant final chorus extolling the bliss of eternal life. Dagmar Sasková (soprano), Erwin Aros (countertenor), Jean-François NOvelli (tenor), Arnaud Richard (baritone), Les Pages, les Chatres & les Symphonistes du Centre de musique baroque de Versailles' Oliver Schneebeli.