Description

This album was first released in 1995 under the title Le Chant de la Jérusalem des terres froides on the French label K617 and is now re-released under the title Musique sacrée en Nouvelle-France on the ATMA label. It illustrates musical life during the French colonization of the Americas, when sacred music accompanied many daily activities.

The late Christopher Jackson (1948-2015) conducted the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal for this recording, made in the Halle aux Vivres de Brouage (Charente-Maritime), and the historical church of Saint-Didier in Villiers-le-Bel, France. The program also includes works by Lebègue and extracts from the Livre d’orgue de Montréal, with Réjean Poirier playing the church’s historic organ.