Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Christmas mass, the Messe de Minuit, stands fully in the French tradition of celebrating the happy message of Christ’s birth with exuberant cheerfulness. Composed around 1694, this midnight mass incorporates ten old French Christmas carols, giving it both a dance-like swing and special tonal colors.

For this edition Andreas Gräsle has transcribed the orchestral writing for organ. His distribution of the parts between manuals and pedals allows the distinctive tonal a...