Thierry Bizot

Comment la psychologie cognitive explique nos croyances.
On oublie souvent que l'humain se distingue des autres espèces animales par sa propension à croire en l'existence d'un monde surnaturel. C'est ainsi que derrière la banalité d'un réel immédiatement accessible, il y aurait un monde proprement spirituel doté de forces qui nous échappent et qui pourtant infléchissent puissamment nos vies. …

For this live album, the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales present Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps with Francis Poulenc's Les biches in remarkably vivid performances, under the direction of Thierry Fischer. The most distinctive characteristic of this reading of Le Sacre is the independence of the lines, which are interpreted with a certain individuality that gives the music great flexibility, notably in the woodwinds' contrapuntal passages. Les biches has a bright neo-classical quality that is emphasized by the winds' incisive attacks, brisk tempos overall, and the transparent tone colors of the orchestra.

L'avocat pénaliste livre une vision personnelle des coulisses de l'instruction d'affaires criminelles mémorables depuis les années 1970 et met en lumière les spécificités de son métier. Il décrit la complexité des procédures et la diversité des personnalités des accusés, de P. Dils à P. Bodein en passant par F. Heaulme. …

Swiss pianist Thierry Lang combines jazz, folk and classical influences on this, his recording debut for ACT. This is defiantly Swiss music but as the album’s liner notes explain label boss Siegfried Loch envisages this often beautiful music reaching out to a wider constituency. The word “Lyoba” is a dialect word for “cow herder’s chant” and comes from the Fribourg region in the West of Switzerland, the area from which Lang hails. The pianist had released two previous “Lyoba” albums locally before being discovered by Loch but the ACT deal has given him the opportunity to present his ideas to an international audience.

Honegger’s Une Cantate de Noël is a Christmas number with a difference. His last work and one of his most popular compositions, it was written for the Basle Chamber Choir and Orchestra in 1953. The text of the cantata is derived from liturgical and popular texts— including Psalms and part of the Latin Gloria. A notable feature is the intertwining of traditional carols in French and German: appropriate for multilingual Switzerland and also perhaps symbolizing peace among nations seven years after the conclusion of World War II. Honegger scored the cantata for solo baritone, mixed chorus, children’s choir and an orchestra including organ. The combination of the different texts and forms creates a wonderfully uplifting effect.