Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit was the first piece of French baroque music that I ever encountered. Sir David Willcocks’ with the Kings College Choir, Cambridge and the English Chamber Orchestra on Angel was the first recording of the piece that I owned and many years later it remains a favorite.
Charpentier’s use of traditional French noëls gives the work its unique charm. Here’s a terrific post about the piece on this from the Magnificat blog, hopefully we will get a Magnificat recording of it some day.
Vespers 1610, An Early Music Blog 