LA TEMPÊTE
SIMON-PIERRE BESTION – conductor, artistic director

NOCTURNE: Byzantine Hymns & Orthodox Vespers

NOCTURNE: A stripped-down version of Rachmaninov, without artifice, without piano or orchestra. A Rachmaninov filled with Russian folk tradition, faith and fervour.

Sergei Rachmaninov’s Vespers are the moving account of a man deeply imbued with a millennial Orthodox tradition. Written in 1915 in less than two weeks, they were then created in the middle of the Great War, on March 10, 1915 in Moscow, before finally becoming banned by the Soviet regime in 1917.

The idea was to recreate an imaginary ritual, mixing Rachmaninov’s Vespers with Byzantine Orthodox chants, and also extending to the total use of space by the singers, thus offering an intense journey into one of the greatest works of vocal art.

PROGRAM

Serguei Rachmaninoff
All night Vigil, Op. 37

Hymns of the greek orthodo byzantine liturgy

CAST

Simon-Pierre Bestion – concept, staging and conductor
Adrian Sirbu – byzantine Singer
30 singers
Marianne Pelcerf – light creation

MORE ABOUT

Sergei Rachmaninoff All-Night Vigil is a moving testimony of a man profoundly steeped in a millennial orthodox tradition. Written in 1915 in less than two weeks, it was then created right in the midst of the Great War, on March 10th 1915 in Moscow. before it finally became forbidden by the Soviet regime in 1917. I firstly discovered this piece by singing it myself in a choir, that was then coached by my teacher Valérie Fayer. It was a complete emotional shock !

This music offers a great feeling of « simplicity » when it actually is of a very complex architecture and resolutely modern for the time by the unusual orchestral treatment of an a capella choir. The melodies  immediately stroke me by their purity and their incandescences. Melodies coming from the depths of time, inspired by traditions both popular and religious of Slav countries. I was also struck by Rachmaninoff harmonic work that gives the chorus the feeling of an extremely powerful instrument, a kind of vocal and human organ where the harmony is dense and offers at the same time a satisfaction.

The complexity of this music often is in the organisation of the voices and of the counterpoint between them. The harmony often is quite simple, of a modal inspiration, that is to say inspired by the modes of different regions from east Europe such as the Znamenny mode, the Kiéven mode but also ancient Greek modes coming from the Byzantine chant. This harmony gently accompanies each melodic edge with emotions. It completes the melody in its fragility or accompanies it in its power. The melodies can therefore freely express themselves through a rhythm extraordinarily flexible for its part. The music progresses using important dynamics (crescendo, decrescendo), in a balanced way as a swell taking many different forms.

It is without a doubt my favorite work of Rachmaninoff. I find in it both all the sensibility and sensuality of a human, carnal music whose density is profoundly linked to the natural elements around us. This music never is demonstrative, it offers the correctness of a sacred music in its most deep sense. It is also an astounding music of ritual that is ageless, detached to any aesthetic jugements by its timeless language and its overwhelming sincerity. I had the wish to put this piece in a liturgical and imaginary context, the one of a ritual inspired by orthodox services (vespers, vigils, matins), through which Rachmaninoff chose the texts. This is why I did not hesitate to softly modify the order of the score in order to give it not only a musical meaning dedicated to the concert, but also a dramaturgical meaning leading the auditor in a sequence of cinematographic, sensorial and emotional movements.

For the same reason, I wanted to juxtapose this score with Byzantine orthodox chant, which is the musical cradle of Rachmaninoff inspiration, but also with two contemporary French pieces whose harmonic work offers a new listening perspective on All-Night Vigil. « La Nuit » by Philippe Fénelon and « Du fond caché de la clarté » by Eric Tanguy are two pieces evoking mysterious and poetic digressions and are like a contemporary extension of the bare and sacred message of Rachmaninoff.

The byzantine chant takes us back to the sources of the christian rite, that particularly developed east of Roma from the 3rd and 4th centuries in the Byzantine empire. Sung since its origin in Greek language – and later in Arab for the Middle East christians -, this art spread and varied crossing the different countries and cultures that became orthodox. During the services, this only monodic chant (composed of a single melody without harmony and a cappella) punctuates time while stretching it until obtaining a mesmerizing and infinite feeling what firstly strike the believer before being overwhelmed

With the conversion to Christianity of the slav peoples at then end of the 4th century, the liturgical texts were gradually translated in Slavonic (hence the piece of Rachmaninoff that is in Slavonic) and the byzantine melodies adapted to novelty. So, from the Greek Byzantine chant, important liturgical chant traditions developed , especially in Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine and in Serbia. Depending on the country and with the time, this transformation of the « original » Byzantine chant  was able to take a new turn, what is the case in Russia, with the contribution of occidental classical music. The work of Rachmaninoff is a striking example.

– Simon-Pierre Bestion

BIOGRAPHIES:

LA TEMPÊTE: a vocal and instrumental ensemble, was founded in 2015 by Simon-Pierre Bestion, as he was driven by a deep desire to explore works by injecting a very personal and embodied commitment.

La Tempête finds its source in the expression of links and influences between artists, cultures and eras. It explores the points of contact and legacies with an approach of great liberty. The company has thus developed a very intuitive and sensory relationship with the works, whose reinterpretations are regularly praised by national and international critics.

Simon-Pierre Bestion visits the intimacy between human traditions and the diversity of the traces left by artistic and societal movements.

The very essence of the project leads the repertoire of the ensemble to touch several aesthetics, nourishing itself mainly on early and even traditional music, as well as modern and contemporary repertoires.

By working with early as well as traditional instruments and exploring vast forms of vocal expression, La Tempête builds its proposals around the experience of timbre and acoustics.

Its projects were therefore born of the idea of a sensory immersion for the spectator, of the quest for a moment that is specific to each encounter between a place, artists, and an audience. Simon-Pierre Bestion’s creations are the result of a deep interest for collective experience and exploration.

The company is therefore open to many disciplines and collaborates with artists from a wide range of backgrounds.

SIMON-PIERRE BESTION: is a french musician, conductor and keyboardist, key figure of a new generation of artists fascinated by “total art”.

Simon-Pierre Bestion trains at the Conservatoire of Nantes in Michel Bourcier’s organ class. There, he also learns about musical formation and chamber music. In addition, he studies the harpsichord in Boulogne-Billancourt with Laure Morabito and broadens his formation with harpsichordists and organists such as Jan-Willem Jansen, Benjamin Alard or Aline Zylberach.

His taste for writing, composition and modern music leads him to discover polyphony and the richness of the choral repertoire. He then studies choir conducting alongside Valerie Fayet and he soon joins the Conservatoire National Supérieur of Lyon in Nicole Corti’s class. He is successively influenced by the encounter with these two conductors, as well as by the precious advice of artists such as Roland Hayrabédian, Joël Suhubiette, Dieter Kurz or even Timo Nuoranne.

His passion for ancient music and conducting leads him to found the ensemble Europa Barocca in 2007 with the viola player Julie Dessaint. He completes this instrumental formation with the creation of the choir Luce del Canto, a vocal ensemble of young singers.

Wishing to broaden his musical background and question the traditional form of concerts, Simon-Pierre Bestion creates the Compagnie La Tempête, the result of the fusion between these two ensembles. The first show of the ensemble, The Tempest, demonstrates an unprecedented approach to sound and space. This project also illustrates a clear interest in the scenic arts, inspired by his taste for the works of numerous choreographers, artists and directors.

The artistic work of Simon-Pierre Bestion is marked by a rich musical legacy, nourished by extra western traditions, rituals and creation. Heavily influenced by the works of composers such as Jean-Louis Florentz or Maurice Ohana, he defends a musical approach in which the interpreter must have his place in the incarnation and appropriation of sound as a material. He is also influenced by his encounters with multiple vocal personalities, researchers and interprets of forgotten repertoires such as Marcel Peres (Ancient repertoires) or Adrian Sirbu (Byzantin chanting).

These last few years, his thirst for orchestration and the inspiration he draws from the works he approaches have given to the public projects as captivating as surprising, often on the subject of encounters and ambitious combinations: a dialogue between Mediterranean cultures in Jerusalem (2019) for the Festival de Saint-Denis and the Cité de la Voix, a story of the Resurrection with Larmes de Résurrection (2017) for Château de Versailles Spectacles or even a visual and sonorous experience with Bach minimaliste (2019) for the CCR des Dominicains de Haute-Alsace and the Scène Nationale l’Empreinte.

In 2018, his interpretation of the Vespro della Beata Vergine of Monteverdi offers a new and personal vision of this emblematic piece and leaves its mark on national and international critiques. In 2021, he presents L’Enfant noir: a musical initiation story based on the work of Jean-Louis Florentz and Camara Laye’s biography.

The young conductor loves to collaborate with other musical and artistic companies but also companies from the entire performing arts background. In 2022, he will make his debut as a guest conductor at the Opéra National de Lyon for the production Nuit funèbre, based on Bach’s cantatas, staged by Katie Mitchell.

SPONSORS

The Caisse des Dépôts is the principal sponsor of La Tempête.

She also receives the support of the Bettencourt-Schueller Foundation, the french ministry of Culture), of the Centre National de la Musique (CNM), of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, of the Corrèze county, of the city of Brive-la-Gaillarge and of the Adami.

La Tempête is a guest artist at the Compiègne Theater and Opera House, as well as the Singer-Polignac Foundation and the town of Brive-la-Gaillarde. It is associated to the Orléans Theâtre. It records for the Alpha Classics music company.

The ensemble is a board-member of the FEVIS (french federation of specialized instrumental and vocal ensembles), of the Rézo Musa and a member of the Profedim syndicate.

The concert partners are the National Centre for Culture and the Eufonie Festival.