Charpentier"s Pastorale is basically an elaborate French baroque Christmas pageant (and that"s not a criticism) depicting the shepherds" vision of the angel and their pilgrimage to the manger in Bethlehem. It has some particularly charming examples of the pastoral music so beloved of French Baroque composers (for recorders, finger cymbals, and the like) and a gorgeous scene with Agnès Mellon leading the band of angels singing praises to God. "In nativitatem DNJC canticum" sets various verses of a Latin hymn of praise to a beguiling triple-time tune. As for the performance, it"s a fine example of why, for twenty years, there have been no more persuasive interpreters of Charpentier than William Christie and Les Arts Florissants. --Matthew Westphal