Marc-Antoine Charpentier composed some of the most important works of seventeenth-century French music on the subject of the Nativity and its tutelary figure, the Virgin Mary, from dramatic oratorios in Latin to secular cantatas in the vernacular. William Christie and Les Arts Florissants intuitively understood how to bring out the artless flavour of these lively and moving pieces. This reissue confirms the sureness of touch with which the American musician and his ensemble immediately succeeded in grasping the essence of the music. A major re-release.