Le Christ aux coquelicots

It was Christian Bobin who steered me towards his Christ aux coquelicots after hearing the piece written for Ensemble Accroche Note based on Le Baiser de Marbre noir. I then discovered this text and was seized by its intimate dimension, this
a prayer-letter to a loved one, but also to the spiritual figure of Christ.
The word “celebration” came to mind when I thought of writing a choral work. From then on, the project exchanges with Denis Comtet, conductor of the ensemble Les Discours.
This poetic work makes it possible to vary the compositions of ensembles of singers. Thus, in addition to the 12-voice passages at the beginning of the piece, we can move on to four SATB soloists – which are very important to the sound balance, or to solo, solo with choir in response…
I think it’s a sonic spatialization of the text, which I’ve divided into 14 movements. This last word can also be can also be understood as the movement of the soloists in space, at the four cardinal points, or in front of the choir.
These movements are not intended to cut through the poetic piece, which is a single piece, but rather to provide temporal ethos, materializing the different dispositions of the singers. Their titles refer to the first words of a page (Je t’écris…), or to a musical form (Choral).
As a subtitle to the work, I wished to add the term “lyric poem”, which applies to all texts in which the poet expresses personal and personal feelings.
the poet expresses personal feelings and shapes them with a certain musicality.
I like the fact that the word “lyric” comes from “the lyre”, the musical instrument used by Orpheus. And I wanted to, to illuminate the text through the purity of the musical writing. That’s why the piece has recitative aspects, homage recitative aspects, homorhythm and yet also, paradoxically, sung, spoken and rhythmic polytextuality… Thus, the very positioning of one member of the concert audience receives a different understanding understanding of others. In this sense, Le Christ aux coquelicots is a “fleuve” (river) work, given the sheer volume of text in a piece less than 27 minutes. It is recited, rarely repeated, sometimes mixed with itself. And if small musical motifs here and there irrigate the piece, it’s also to propose a link in these arches of memory
arches of memory that make up Christian Bobin’s innumerable poetic jewels.
I thank him for his trust.