La Fantasia, Aradia Ensemble, Rien Voskuilen, Kevin Mallon & Christian Lambour - Joyeux Noël: l French Christmas Music
Classical | WEB FLAC (tracks) & d. booklet | 184:49 min | 807 MB
Label: Brilliant Classics | Tracks: 63 | Rls.date: 2017
In the popular imagination, French Christmas music may now be almost wholly defined by Minuit, chrétiens and favourites such as Petit Papa Noël covered by Charles Aznavour and Johnny Hallyday, but the festive season was marked in the Baroque era with great merriment, principally through the genre of Noëls: sacred collections of secular songs, celebrating often vernacular aspects of the Nativity such as the Shepherds, especially by giving the occasion to compose in the always popular pastoral vein, in simple keys such as F major and in the lilting siciliano rhythm.