Concerto Vocale, René Jacobs - Charpentier: Leçons du Vendredy Sainct (1986) CD-Rip

Founded by René Jacobs in 1977 for a series of recordings with harmoniamundi France, Concerto Vocale soon built up a reputation on theEuropean musical scene as a major force in the rediscovery of therepertoire of Baroque chamber music for voices. Alongside René Jacobs,the ensemble secured the services of musicians of the front rank, amongthem William Christie, Sigiswald and Wieland Kuijken, Konrad Junghänel,and Jaap Ter Linden.
After such revelatory productions as Cesti’s L’Orontea atthe Innsbruck Festival, René Jacobs enlarged the ensemble into agenuine orchestra capable of mounting Italian operas of the seventeenthand eighteenth centuries, some of which have met with immense success:Cavalli’s Xerse, Giasone, La Calisto and Eliogabalo, Cesti’s L’Argia, and of course the three surviving operas of Monteverdi. L’incoronazione di Poppearecently returned to the ensemble’s repertoire in a new production byDavid McVicar at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, which will berevived in January 2006 at the Deutsche Staatsoper Unter den Linden inBerlin, and in March of the same year at the Théâtre Royal de LaMonnaie in Brussels, while Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria will be seen in a new production in Berlin in January 2005.
A formidable tool for the exploration of its chosen repertoire,Concerto Vocale remains closely linked with the imaginative musicalcareer of René Jacobs. Most of the ensemble’s recordings have obtainedmajor international prizes, among them the International Record CriticsAward, Edison Award, Deutscher Schallplattenpreis, Grand Prix del’Académie Charles Cros, Diapason d’Or, Cecilia Award, and the VivaldiPrize of the Cini Foundation.