L'astrologie Des Maîtres de L'inde

Between 1803 and 1968, the Grand Prix de Rome marked the zenith of composition studies at the Paris Conservatoire. In Maurice Ravel’s time the competition included an elimination round (a fugue and a choral piece) followed by a cantata in the form of an operatic scena. The entries were judged by a jury which generally favoured expertise and conformity more than originality and Ravel’s growing reputation as a member of the avant-garde was therefore hardly to his advantage, and may explain why he never won the coveted Premier Grand Prix, and the three-year stay at Rome’s Villa Medici that went with it.

With the present disc, Pascal Rophé and his Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire pay tribute to their great countryman, Claude Debussy – but not with the standard orchestral fare. Debussy Orchestrated paints a portrait of a light-hearted composer, seen through the eyes of two of his collaborators, Henri Büsser and André Caplet, who transferred the works recorded here from the keyboard to the orchestra. In Petite Suite, composed for piano four hands in 1899, Debussy makes allusions to Fêtes galantes by Paul Verlaine, the poet who so often inspired him.

The music of Michael Jarrell has been said to ‘examine states of dream and unreality, searching for a moment of truth’ – a truth which is often found in the lowest sonorities and slowest tempi, a place where time stands still. His works are often interrelated, not only by a certain sensitivity or a distinctive tone, but also by the recurrence of particular features that he reworks in different contexts.

An extraordinary enterprise … As an experience of the sounds and styles of French organ culture this boxed set, it seems to me, is indispensable … the body of music is mostly, here, not created but simply made alive by the apt choice of instruments … it is a resource to which to return with delight.

Recueil de textes de différentes époques contenant des galimatias, bévues et cacographies, des pensées déréglées et absurdes, des hypothèses plus ou moins hasardeuses touchant l'histoire universelle, le comportement de personnalités politiques. S'y retrouvent Socrate, Rousseau, J.-P. Sartre, L. Aragon, Potemkine, Philippe V d'Espagne, J. Carter, etc. …

Lucien de Samosate (v. 125-v. 192) se singularise par son positionnement de rationaliste et de matérialiste. Son oeuvre littéraire est celle d'un rhéteur qui écrit le plus souvent sous forme de dialogues. Il dénonce volontiers le mensonge et l'imposture et peut être considéré comme un précurseur de la pensée moderne. …

A partir des définitions classiques de l'oeuvre et des apports de la sociologie, l'auteur propose une série de réponses sur la nature et la fonction sociales des oeuvres d'art. Il analyse les travaux de recherche des dernières décennies sur le fonctionnement des institutions de l'art et de la culture. L'étude défend la thèse de l'égalité "sociale" de principe des objets d'art et de culture. …