MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER: MESSE DE MINUIT POUR NOËL; MAGNIFICAT. The Virgin Consort, Kyler Brown, director. Gothic 49077.

To tell the truth, I have never been that fond of the Charpentier, written for Louis XIV's Saint-Chapelle, and based on popular noëls calculated to appeal to court tastes. But this is a great record: the kind that can change one's mind. For openers, the Mass itself is given about the most perfect and stylish performance that can be imagined. The ensemble of seven female and six male voices, accompanied by four viols, two recorders, and continuo organ is balanced and meticulous.

But the performance goes well beyond meticulous and stylish. Brown and the Virgin Consort start out with a "scenario," so to speak; they place the piece in the context of an actual Christmas Eve Mass. So first of all, Charpentier's movements are interspersed with the Gregorian Propers, Second, the performance follows Charpentier's directions that the organist play interludes based on the carols. Brown himself does the honors at the organ of St. Mary the Virgin in New York, with noëls by two of Charpentier's contemporaries, Nicolas Lebègue (who was his fellow musician at Saint-Chapelle) and Michel Corrette.  From a historical point of view, I suppose one might quibble with the use of St. Mary's Aeolian-Skinner for this latter duty, but one simply is not inclined to quibble, for the artistic result is superb. The whole thing works perfectly: the concept, the color, the ensemble performance, the organ, the acoustical ambience of St. Mary's. I really like this record, and so will you.