Les Arts Florissants & William Christie - Bien que l'amour...: Airs Sérieux et à Boìre (2016)

The French Baroque air has not been much recorded, even in comparison with the earlier strophic air de cour. But the veteran ensemble Les Arts Florissants, under American-French director William Christie, having brought exposure to a good deal of previously unknown French music, is not slowing down in this regard, and this delightful collection of "serious and drinking airs" might well stimulate other performers to explore the repertory. French music of the period is deeply associated with the splendor of Versailles and its centralized musical culture of opera, ballet, and hothouse character pieces, but these light songs, often set to texts by anonymous poets on pastoral themes of love and liquor, are the other side of the coin. Examples by major composers such as Francois Couperin and Marc-Antoine Charpentier are included, but the central figure is Michel Lambert (1610-1696), a composer whom Christie has explored in the past. His airs retain their basic simplicity but take on the shape of little scenes or amplifications of a rhetorical idea, and they're instantly appealing. Sample track 2, Le repos, l'ombre, le silence, for one of music's most vivid evocations of slumber and sleep. This album was recorded in 2013 and not released until the spring of 2016; that it has seen the light of day is cause for rejoicing. -- James Manheim