I wonder if the “poor neglected Marc-Antoine Charpentier” line isn’t being overdone a bit… Not necessarily by those motivated to perform his music but by those writing about it all in the press.
He might not be Handel or Bach or Vivaldi (and David et Jonathas really has been neglected), but his is the name behind some of the most-recognised baroque music around.
Item 1. Te Deum – the Prélude of which, among other things, became the Eurovision theme.
and his next most frequently recorded piece…
Item 2. Messe di minuit pour Noël (or Midnight Mass if you prefer) – a popular little mass setting that happily rips off assorted French carols, known and loved even outside France. The Kyrie, for example, sets out with “Joseph est bien marié”.
An imeem playlist – I had to choose from a fairly limited range of performances, but the very presence of any Charpentier on this particular service says something too.