Oeuvres sacrées - Ensemble vocal melisme

Description

In Franck’s 7 paroles du Christ, the sobriety of the choirs and the lyricism of certain solo passages are far removed from the romantic outpourings of the period and give this work formidable power. Gildas Pungier, choirmaster of Ensemble Mélisme(s) and the Opéra de Rennes, emphasizes the almost cinematic perception of this score, at the exact crossroads between sacred music and opera: “We witness the scene, as if in a state of stunned silence. The story is written, the ending known, the drama already played out. Yet at every moment, one has the choice between action, as if one were in the play, and meditation. It is a perfect and permanent point of balance. Time unfolds inexorably, horizontally, but one holds one’s breath.... Like a freediver, try to hold back this passing time, go all the way to the extreme point of horizontal slowness, so that there emerges, just before the break beyond which death takes over from the movement of the flow of life, that tiny point from which light springs forth.” The work is recorded here in a new instrumentation for piano and harmonium created by Gildas Pungier. This ensemble, very much in vogue at the end of the 19th century and appreciated by Franck, aligns with the ideal of simplicity desired by the composer, and was in fact chosen by Rossini for his Petite Messe Solennelle, a few years after the composition of the 7 Paroles.