Les Arts Florissants, Dec 5, 2025

Karen, Bruce, and I heard Les Arts Florissants at BAM on Dec 5, 2025. They performed a program of two sacred works by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, the *Messe de Minuit* and *Pastorale de Noël.* Les A F are a French ensemble that mostly does French Baroque opera and similar works. Karen and I saw their production of Lully's *Atys* at BAM in 2011, a performance that was one of the greatest things I've seen in my life. We've seen them a handful of times since then and they're always amazing.

They were conducted (as they nearly always are) by their founder, William Christie. He formed the group in the 80s to enable him to perform the French Baroque music that he loves so dearly and wasn't being done hardly anywhere. We had the unusual pleasure at this performance of watching him conduct - - he's usually in the pit but since this was a concert he was standing onstage surrounded by the orchestra and singers. His conducting was precise, imaginative, expressive, and (like every Les A F performance) elegant. Plus even at 80 he's a fine figure of a man, slim and with glorious posture. As my late husband would say, "straight as a stick."

The French Baroque style is a particular thing which Christie understands better than anyone and casts and trains his singers in that style. It requires its own approach different from what we think of as "opera," which most typically means 19th century or early 20th century Italian opera, Verdi or Puccini. French Baroque is light rather than rich, silver rather than gold, a slice of muskmelon rather than a slice of ricotta cheesecake. A French Baroque soprano might branch out into Handel or Mozart, maybe also Rossini, but not *Butterfly.* But then neither would you want a *Butterfly* soprano singing French Baroque. Stay in your lane.

There were three solo singers in the concert, all of them beautifully embodying the style. Emmanuelle De Negri was the soprano soloist. Her voice was lean and tangy, full of color and grace. We were surprised at her outfit - - everyone onstage was wearing all black but she wore a black pseudo caftan with red, green, and gold metallic sizzles stitched through it, like something Halston would have made for Liza. Perfect for Liza but a strange choice for a Les A F concert.

The tenor soloist was Bastien Rimondi. His voice was bright with a touch of brass. My friend Sarah Sjolie Parks would describe his voice as "having so much forward resonance, he could kill small game at 50 feet." That works for Charpentier, it would be a disaster in a lot of other things.

Our favorite was bass Alex Rosen. His voice was warm and rich, it rolled out of him and put everyone at ease. He delivered the magic of French Baroque but could also step into many roles in standard rep operas. I would love to hear him as Leporello in *Don Giovanni*! Here he is in a scene from Monteverdi's *Coronation of Poppea.* He's the dude with the beard and the low voice.

Here's the thing about this music. Sometimes it's so elegant, restrained, and refined it borders on...can I use the word "dull" without being offensive? There's not a lot of excitement. There is some variety but as Karen said, it's within a small range. There was a movement in the first piece that had snappy dance rhythms and one of the singers playing the tambourine. It made us all sit up and take notice, it was a welcome departure from the courtly, languid music surrounding it.

Unfortunately the most memorable moment of the evening was a mishap! There were two recorder players in the orchestra. One of them stood up at one point to play a chime - - the "clock" struck twelve in the *Midnight Mass,* a nice touch from Charpentier. It was an adagio, a slow and steady pulse, with the chime striking on the downbeat every two measures. The guy playing the chime had a charming method: he struck the chime with his mallet in a direct, intentional way and followed that up with a slow swirling follow-through and wind-up to the next chime. This happened eleven times without incident. But then I think he was a little thrown off by Christie slowing things down a bit leading up to the final cadence and final chime. The guy struck the chime and it didn't "speak," it didn't make any sound. Maybe he didn't hit it in the right spot, who knows. He struck it again a half second later and would you believe it didn't "speak" the second time. Finally he got it the third time. It was a teensy bit frantic and honestly, sort of adorable, like Charpentier meets *Arrested Development.*