Some of the finest small-ensemble performances of early-Baroque music in Canada come from Montreal. Les Voix Baroques – sopranos Suzie LeBlanc and Catherine Webster, countertenor Matthew White, tenors Charles Daniels and Colin Balzer and baritone Sumner Thompson – have here assembled music meant for the period immediately before and after Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent in the Christian calendar. As such, it mixes celebration and reflection. This delectable CD contains well-known as well as obscure works from the late 16th and early 17th centuries by such composers as Michael Praetorius, Samuel Scheidt and Claudio Monteverdi. The singing is balanced and remarkably expressive. Accompaniment as well as instrumental interludes come from ever-elegant consort, Les Voix Humaines. **** (Full 4 stars)
Date:
Tue, 03/10/2009