Étienne Moulinié (1599-1676) spent more than 30 years in the employ of Gaston of Orléans, younger brother of King Louis XIII. His Meslanges, a collection of 36 canticles, litanies and motets on "Christian subjects" in two to five parts with continuo, appeared in print in 1658. Moulinié's choice of texts was highly personal, and he also wanted to "purify music and make it wholly chaste," but also allow himself artistic licence that he knew might be seen as a kind of rule-breaking. The style is both unprepossessing and full, the piercing vocal expressiveness and glowing instrumental resonances of these new performances emphasizing its hearty soulfulness. The disc also includes works by Antoine Boësset, François de Chancy and Louis Constantin. harmoniamundi.com