Review by Emanuel Haim – Campra: Messe de Requiem

A contemporary of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau, André Cambra, born in 1660 in Aix-en-Provence and died in 1744 in Versailles, served first as head of the singing school at Notre Dame in Paris, and then as a conductor. From the Académie Royale de music there. He was known in his time as a writer of sacred music, particularly his 37 works published in three volumes, as well as a composer of operas. And if you tune into the liturgical text of the Divine Liturgy while listening, you can sometimes imagine yourself in the theatre. Le Concert d’Astrée heats up dramatically, punctuates the elegant and playful twists of gentle French music, and performs the work effectively. Founded in 2000 by Emmanuel Haim, the French Baroque ensemble is clearly in familiar territory. The Campra Requiem is supplemented by works by Rameau and Cassagna de Mondonville.

Cambra: Messe de Requiem, Mondonville: In Exitu Israel, Rameau: Convertendo Dominus

Marie Berbust and Emmanuel Ifrah (soprano), Samuel Boden and Zachary Wilder (tenor), Victor Sicard (baritone), Le Concert d’Astre, Emmanuel Haim (conductor)
Erato