Antoine Herve

Antoine Hervé (20 January 1959 in Paris) is a French composer and pianist. Hervé studied composition at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique. Between 1987 and 1989 he was director of the French National Jazz Orchestra. He has played with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Chet Baker, Randy Brecker, Cab Calloway, Louis Sclavis, Martial Solal, Michel Portal, Carla Bley, Didier Lockwood and Daniel Humair.

Antoine Hervé (20 January 1959 in Paris) is a French composer and pianist. Hervé studied composition at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique. Between 1987 and 1989 he was director of the French National Jazz Orchestra. He has played with Dee Dee Bridgewater, Chet Baker, Randy Brecker, Cab Calloway, Louis Sclavis, Martial Solal, Michel Portal, Carla Bley, Didier Lockwood and Daniel Humair. Next to musicals, soundtracks for movies and dance shows Hervé has composed a concert for trumpet and a piece for drums and orkest. During 1997 Hervé and Markus Stockhausen founded a quintet. He has his own jazz label, Philo.

This new opus of Antoine Hervé-and three free electrons that revolve around him for a few decades already-successful the challenge of reconciling the electroacoustic sound material galaxy (Véronique Wilmart), their logic and their autonomous dynamics, with the metric neat and inspired that we know the famous jazz pianist and teacher. Irregular heartbeat segmentation gives a characteristic swaying to wand Philippe "Pipon" Garcia on drums. Finally virtuoso Jean-Charles Richard saxophones willingly joined the Antoine Hervé to get their impressionistic harmonies in the particle accelerator. An intentional and well balanced lyricism.

Cet album est conçu comme un »best of« des principales créations que j’ai pu réaliser ces dix dernières années, suite à mon passage à l’Orchestre national de Jazz. Un travail de réécriture, de transcription et d’adaptation a été nécessaire pour ce nouveau groupe, composé de musiciens qui partagent mon parcours artistique depuis bien longtemps déjà.

Studio Armide represents magnificent documentary film Olivier Simonnet «Marc-Antoine Charpentier, un automne musical à Versailles». Marc-Antoine Charpentier never had an official function at the court of Louis XIV. In 2004 Versailles finally opened its doors to him for the tercentennial commemorations of his death. The finest performers of baroque music, from Jordi Savall to Christophe Rousset, played the most important works of the time in the Royal Chapel opera house, as well as in the chateau salons and galleries: from instrumental music (Lully’s Alceste) to vocal music (Actéon), from lyric tragedy (Médée) to sacred music (Missa assumpta est Maria). The life of this collaborator of Molière’s and cultural life under Louis XIV are enriched by the participation of conductors and musicians.

The Canticum Zachariae dates from 1687, and its lovely six-part Benedictus shows Charpentier in characteristically fluent lyrical and contrapuntal form. The four-part Mass—the first of the composer’s eleven settings—which opens simply, extends to six voices in the Sanctus, with the spirited Hosanna extended to double choir. But it is the short Agnus Dei, serenely beautiful, that haunts the memory.

This release offers a liturgical reconstruction of the Vespers office. The five Vesper psalms and Magnificat belong to different periods in Charpentier's life and the six antiphons are by his organist-composer contemporary, Nivers. The reconstruction works well and Le Concert Spirituel, under Hervé Niquet, demonstrates its rapport with Charpentier's music. The vocal sound is fresh and the wide range of musical Affekt shows off a greater diversity of tonal colour.

This is another absolute gem, in which Herve Niquet and his ensemble, Le Concert Spirituel, show sparkling variety. (Classic CD)

Charpentier here offers elegant and intimate music that ranges from the delicate to the exuberant, the lyrical, and the dramatic. Most if not all of these pieces were probably written for the musical establishment of the Duchess of Guise, who was Charpentiers patron from 1670 until her death in 1688. The performing forces on this recording consist of five singes, two obligato violins and a continuo ensemble with theorbos the most prominent harmony instruments. While some of he music could conceivably be performed with larger forces, the chamber-like scale of these readings suites the character of the music admirably. Both texts and music suggest private household devotion rather than public liturgy. Texts range from the traditional seasonal Marian Antiphons to anonymous Latin devotional poetry of the Counter-Reformation.

Niquet’s performances of Charpentier with Le Concert Spirituel are generally characterised by their liveliness. Niquet uses quite small forces, which emphasises the chamber nature of much of Charpentier’s writing, even in his grandest works. Niquet’s version of the Te Deum is one of the bounciest that I have heard. Crisp and lively playing from the instrumentalists emphasises the work’s dance-like qualities in a charming way. The faster sections are taken with remarkable speed and dexterity, but never feel rushed and they contrast admirably with the slower movements.