Helmont: Lecons de tenebres

Charles-Joseph Van Helmont played a leading role in music in Brussels during the Baroque period. In 1737 he followed in the footsteps of Joseph-Hector Fiocco and composed a cycle of nine Leçons de ténèbres for solo voice and continuo. Ornamentation in the French style blends here with Italian lyricism, and each lamentation of the prophet Jeremiah is granted its own particular atmosphere. He revised one of his most beautiful Leçons of Holy Week in 1756 and added a solo cello part, also taking the opportunity to compose a completely new Leçon whose galant style surprises as much as it seduces the listener. For these works, recorded here for the first time, the Brussels-based ensemble Scherzi Musicali has here assembled three sopranos and several instrumentalists around a magnificent organ (1775) built by Guillaume Robustelly.