Hypnos

La Tempête, Simon-Pierre Bestion

Pierre de Manchicourt (1510-1564), Heinrich Isaac (1450-1517), Olivier Greif (1950-2000), Ludwig Senfl (1486-1543), Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), Marcel Peres (geb. 1956), Pedro de Escobar (1465-1535), Mabriano de Orto (1460-1529), Antoine de Fevin (1470-1512), Juan de Anchieta (1462-1523), John Tavener (1944-2013)

Pierre de Manchicourt: Missa da Requiem (Introit)
+Heinrich Isaac: Quis dabit capiti meo aquam
+Olivier Greif: Requiem op. 358 (Requiem)
+Ludwig Senfl: Missa paschalis (Kyrie)
+Giacinto Scelsi: Requiem
+Marcel Peres: Missa ex Tempore (Gloria)
+Pedro de Escobar: Missa pro Defunctis (Sanctus & Benedictus)
+Marbrianus de Orto: Guimel aus Lamentationes Hieremiae Prophetae
+Antoine de Fevin: Missa pro fidelibus Defunctis (Agnus Dei)
+Juan de Anchieta: Libera me, Domine, libera me, Domine
+John Tavener: Song for Athene
+Anonymus (Chant Vieux-Romain de l'Eglise de Rome / 11. Jahrhundert): Kyrie in natale Domini
+Anonymus (Chant Ambrosien de l'Eglise de Milan / 12. Jahrhundert): Dixit Dominus

Hypnos, God of Sleep . . . Simon-Pierre Bestion’s recordings are often inspired by his desire to recreate a ritual. His aim here was to recreate a Requiem service, ‘the ceremony that accompanies the passage of a human being into the hereafter, while supporting the feelings of all who witness it. Making use of all the freedom that this act of re-creation afforded me, I constructed this programme without boundaries between repertories or different musical aesthetics – from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance to the twentieth century – selecting the works for their captivating musical material, their hypnotic and meditative dimension’. Intonations from Byzantine chant sit alongside guttural voices in Giacinto Scelsi and the English vocal style of John Tavener; Franco-Flemish Renaissance polyphony encounters the influences of eastern or western spiritual traditions present in the contemporary works.

March 2022

Bestion’s singers are very flexible, and frequently superb...they are equal to Scelsi’s quartertones; and they can sing ‘straight’ when needed. These stylistic shifts are not jarring.