Le Concert Spirituel was established in 1725 by Anne Danican Philidor (1681-1731) and was the first concert organization in France, specialising in the performance of French Grands Motets by composers as Gilles, Campra, Mondonville and Rameau. The concerts were given in the Salle des Cent Suisses in the Palace of the Tuileries in Paris. They came to an end in 1791 with the French Revolution. In 1988, Hervé Niquet, one of the leading specialists in France in Baroque music, decided to revive Le Concert Spirituel in order to explore again the repertoire of music originally composed for this purpose in the eighteenth century. Since then Le Concert Spirituel has given performances in the principal cities and festivals of Europe and has issued a number of recordings that have been acclaimed by the international press. This recording is the seventh collaboration between Naxos and Le Concert Spirituel.
