Campra Requiem & Miserere

Campra Requiem & Miserere
Les Arts Florissants, William Christie
Pentatone

I do hope this recent surge of enthusiasm for Campra's music continues, William Christie writes that he occupies 'a vital yet historically under recognised place in the Canon of Western sacred choral music' and I couldn't agree more, and without this Requiem would mostly be known as an opera composer. Of course Les Arts Florissants recorded the Requiem in part already only in this new, complete, release, Christie mines much more emotion from his chorus: this opening movement is paced slowly and reminiscent of (indulge me here...) the approach taken by Peter Philips and The Talis scholars' to Cardoso’s Requiem (Gimell 10/90) written some 35 years before Campra's birth. But Campra's sacred music is built on a solid Renaissance understanding it seems, and Christie know this insomuch as he finds a tempo which is at once tenderly rolling yet also stretchs into eternity. Last year, Sébastien Daucé (Awards issue 2024) gave a splendid but brisker account in his album celebrating Master of Music at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris where Campra was appointed in the mid 1690s (and from where Les Arts Florissants record) so comparisons are enjoyable.

[...]

The Sanctus is nimble, similar in tempo to Daucé but softer, and perhaps more balletic from the start. At such spritely moments Gwendoline Blondeel (soprano) really shines. Elsewhere, there are a few points such as Pleni sunt cœli et terra which don't sound entirely together, and certainly the end of the movement is not, which is a shame.

In the Miserere, Christie's instrumentalists have a significant edge on those of Malgoire (1993) as their clarity and sense of line is beautifully shaped from the start, as is the choral entry and general leaning into the surprisingly purple harmony. The Sopranos make heavy weather of secundum magnam misericordiam tuam and I wish I knew which soloist was which as and the booklet does not enlighten me. Blondeel is again superb in Asperges me.

Overall, a rewarding recording with a few, minor, unbalanced moments.

To read the full text of this review please visit Gramophone.co.uk (October 2025)