The
Offertoire in D minor is a reminder that for much of the last century, music in French churches aspired to the theatricality of the opera house. Its dramatic curtain-raiser of an opening is followed by a cantilena fit for a coloratura, before another episode of stormy high drama leads the music to a triumphal closing cadence which provides the escape from the dark dungeons of D minor.
from notes by Ian Carson © 1991
