Sacr

François Couperin is best-known for his instrumental and keyboard works. He also composed quite a number of vocal works, but that part of his output remains in shadow with the exception of the three Leçons de Ténèbres which count among the most renowned vocal works for Passiontide. These also belong among the very few vocal compositions from Couperin's pen which were printed during his lifetime. Most of his vocal works are preserved in manuscript and it is assumed that a considerable part of his output in this genre has been lost.

The name of Charles Tournemire is a minor one, even in the history of French music, and you won’t find much about him in the standard reference books. Nor are you likely to get a great deal of opportunity to hear his music: only two of the works on this disc have been published in printed form, and Sagesse is the only one to have been recorded before. The disc would thus be valuable for that reason alone.

Between 1980 and 1998 Simon Rattle conducted no less than 934 concerts with the CBSO. Together they performed works by many 20th-century composers, as well as established favourites, and gave a total of 16 world premieres. Rattle also made 69 recordings for EMI with the orchestra. This box brings together that recorded legacy, which includes pieces by composers pivotal to his work, such as Mahler, Sibelius and Szymanowski, as well as some of the new compositions he championed — Nicholas Maw’s Odyssy, Mark Anthony Turnage’s Momentum, Three Screaming Popes and Drowned Out, and Thomas Adès’ Asyla.