Ombre & Lumière

Sacred music, during the Romantic period, spanned the extremes of religious fervour: from spontaneous outpourings of joy to deeply meditative introspection. Melancholy Requiems were matched by exuberant solemn masses. The style of writing too covers a wide spectrum, ranging from the “historical style” referring back to music composed during the Renaissance by Palestrina, a master of the genre, to eminently Romantic music based on ultra-modern harmonies and instrumentation. The programme put on by the Palazzetto Bru Zane in conjunction with Le Concert Spirituel explores these opposing approaches with two virtually contemporary composers: Gounod, a man with a long memory, and Fauré, a transitional figure bridging two centuries. Other composers add colour to this concert with typical late 19th-century motets, using the habitual instruments of the leading Parisian forums of the 1880s: violin, cello, double bass, harp and organ. This is a chance to discover some gems of sacred music by Lili Boulanger, Théodore Dubois, Alexandre Guilmant and Louis Aubert.