REFLETS CROISÉS

ABOUT THIS PROGRAM

Centred on Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, presented in the intimate setting of its version for choir and organ, the ‘Reflets Croisés’ programme traces an aesthetic arc through French sacred music. Far removed from the terrifying depictions of the Last Judgement, Fauré offers a profoundly consoling vision of death, replacing the fury of the ‘Dies irae’ with the modal light and tranquillity of the ‘In paradisum’. This masterpiece serves as the framework for a play of mirrors highlighting a shared heritage, rooted in harmonic refinement. Thus, Jean Roger-Ducasse’s *Alma redemptoris mater* follows directly in the footsteps of his master Fauré, whose harmonic exploration he continues and further develops. Maurice Duruflé, for his part, through his *Quatre Motets*, recalls the primacy of plainchant in this style of composition; a Gregorian source to which Gibert’s *Salve Regina* and the rhythmic brilliance of Thierry Escaich’s *Sanctus* (from the *Messe Romane*) now offer a unique contemporary reinterpretation. From post-Romanticism to the 21st century, this journey reveals the evolution of a French school deeply committed to prosodic clarity and timbral colour.

Program duration : about 1h15​