'This beautifully recorded and enterprisingly programmed disc is a welcome arrival ....This is music which is quietly rather than urgently expressive .... but it is almost unremittingly beautiful.' Gramophone, Editor's Choice
'Another young and emerging British group, Ensemble Dumont, deserves similar recognition. Its new recording of sacred music from the household of Louis XIV's younger brother, Philipe d'Anjou is delightfully poised and fragrant in its delivery .... Strongly recommended for Francophiles.' Classic FM Magazine, Record of the Month runner-up
'Peter Bennett has persuasively reconstructed such a concert of contemplative music .... I have been quite bowled over by the cool beauty of this music, admirably performed by the singers and players of this young ensemble.' Gramophone Magazine, Quarterly Retrospect
'One of the year's most beautiful releases was a disc of small-scale motets and instrumental pieces by the seventeenth-century composer Henri Dumont, in sublime performances by newcomers Ensemble Dumont.' Gramophone Magazine, Critic's Choice
'Is there a more sensual, a more ravishing disc than this? ... The voices are robust, turn by turn flexible and charming, the diction masterful (a tasteful French Latin), the instruments of a voluptuous sweetness .. the angelic flavor of the sopranos ... A music frequently ethereal whose architecture and riches Ensemble Dumont marvellously translates without falling into Sulpician sweetness.' Diapason
'Ensemble Dumont manages to introduce a melodic grace into the austere scores. Without any descriptive intent, or lyrical effusion, but a perfect characterization of the vocal lines (whose diversity is a major trait of Dumont's style). In the viol pieces as well as in the sung works, the musicians demonstrate that the serious is not synonymous with the boring.' Le Monde de la Musique
Peter Bennett - director & chamber organ
Helen Groves - soprano
Juliet Schiemann - soprano
Julian Stocker - tenor
Alastair Hamilton - baritone
Robert Macdonald - bass
Susanne Heinrich - treble viol, bass viol
Sarah Gosser - treble viol
Alison McGillivray - bass viol
William Carter - theorbo
Recorded at St Jude's on the Hill Hampstead Garden Suburb 3 - 5 December 1996
Engineered by Philip Hobbs
Post production by Julia Thomas at Finesplice