Vox Luminis & A Nocte Temporis - Charpentier: Orphée aux enfers - The Sunday Times

Stylishly beguiling accounts of two of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s shorter music dramas. First comes the brief cantata Orphée descendant aux enfers (1684), its poignant opening instrumental prelude and recitative rolled around with delicious indulgence and signalling what’s to come. Van Mechelen, co-directing with Meunier, is a mellifluous, unhurried Orphée, unsurprisingly charming the damned souls. He is equally affecting in La Descente d’Orphée aux enfers (1687), a fuller version of the myth, though missing its third act.