The formation of Le Parlement coincided with the period during which Yolanta Skura was establishing Opus 111, and she wanted us to do some records. Interestingly, at the time I wanted to do that disc because of an interest in the contrapuntal element in the music. I did not realise then how much of the dance, the influence of the ballet de cour, Charpentier’s music contains. Later, with greater experience, it became very evident to me, and that’s why I wanted to return to the Te Deum, which was the first piece I ever played as a continuo player at my school. From beginning to end, the Te Deum is like a dance suite, a fact that had been obscured by the only published edition available at that time, which I had to use when I was asked to conduct the work in the Netherlands. It was very bad, with all kinds of spurious dynamic and tempo markings that made it sound like a score of Rachmaninov’s. The first time I heard the William Christie recording, I thought, “That’s not Charpentier”, because he makes far too many tempo changes. The reality is much simpler, without that degree of sophistication, introducing extremes of dynamic contrasts and heavy expressive nuance. What was required was something that came much closer to using the conventions of the period. That was something I learned from recording the Ténèbres and Charpentier’s Les Saisons, the first recording we made and which was not very satisfactory. That marked my first phase of Charpentier performance, while the recording of the Te Deum marked the second, the recognition that it involves a kind of counterpoint between the declamation of the verse, danse de cour, polyphony and orchestral style. So although it is simple in essence, there are layers. In the same way that do you do not change verse into prose, you don’t change tempo every time the text changes. People have to know how to express something different by using the art of rubato and understand the dance tempo within the verse. That makes a big difference and it is why even in the simplest air de cour every strophe should sound different. That’s the basis for performing the airs in French motets. It is what enables Charpentier to express the meaning of text within dance-like music. So in the Te Deum we have a rigaudon and bourée as a prelude, and then a marche (for the army of martyrs), a minuet-like “Tu devicto”, and a sarabande (“Te ergo”). Lastly, there is a gavotte, as there is in many joyful finales, including Beethoven’s 9th Symphony!