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Inspired by the Psyché created collectively by Lully, Molière, Corneille and Quinault, Locke’s Psyche was a veritable artistic firework display: seeking to vie in splendour with the operas of continental Europe, it luxuriously combined theatre, song, dance, and spectacular machines and scenery. Sébastien Daucé here offers us his splendid reconstruction of this key masterpiece in the history of early English opera.

Ever since its creation more than twenty-five years ago, the Accentus chamber choir has ardently championed the a cappella repertory: under its conductor and founder Laurence Equilbey, it has produced an impressive discography that sets the benchmark in this music. For this new recording, the first for Alpha, she hands over direction of the ensemble to Christophe Grapperon, its associate conductor since 2013: ‘It can never be said often enough: the a cappella repertory is a Holy Grail of vocal music! It is a sensory experience directly accessible to everyone, but demanding and often atypical for the listener.’ Hahn and Saint-Saëns are on the programme of this album in superb choral works combining simplicity and expressive power, some of which have never been recorded before.