Moreau, Thomas
Les Beaux Soirs Alanguis
Les beaux soirs alanguis is a musical project around the French melody, the setting to music of poetic texts written by great names in literature. The guiding idea is to offer a lyrical reading, developed with voice and piano, in the spirit of what was practiced at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. These melodies, composed by the musicians of the time (Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Massenet, among others), were intended for representation on the stage of theaters and concert halls, interpreted by professional artists, as well as in the literary salons of Paris or the provinces, where poets, musicians, journalists, painters, men and women of letters and power gathered who, between discussions and debates, sang these new scores that conveyed tunes and texts then in vogue.Les beaux soirs alanguis proposes to perpetuate this tradition, respecting the classical writing voice and piano, going through the works of the great poets as well as more confidential authors. Thus will be sung the Parnassians (Verlaine, Heredia), the Moderns (Rimbaud, Apollinaire, Aragon, Mauriac), the Surrealists (Péret) and authors of difficult to classify obediences like Georges Fourest, Henri Thomas or Henri J.-M. Levet. Musically, the voices lend themselves to a writing of classical form and expression, but borrowing the codes of contemporary song, by the use of structures or rhythms specific to modern aesthetics, with more instrumental characteristics, thanks to the a cappella writing inspired by concerto cadences, letting the virtuosity of the soloist take the ascendancy over the orchestra. The harmonic, melodic and coloristic aspects, a link between ancient and current eras, will be accessible to a wider audience than that of the strictly lyrical environment. In order to restore the best authenticity, the choices of the studio recording focused on the simultaneous piano / voice recording in analog, followed by a mix with modern colors, compression and discreet reverberation allowing listening on all media. Served by invested musicians, Les beaux soirs alanguis declines 19 melodies including two duets, alternating joyful, contemplative, melancholic or spirited evocations, through the great pages of French poetry. Little used today, the melody adapts here to the colors inherited from the ancients while opening onto contemporary song.