Par SPARKE PHILIP. Out of the Darkness, Into the Light is about optimism. All of us experience disappointments in our lives, such failed relationships or the loss of loved ones, but the indomitability of the human spirit allows us to overcome such set backs and get through the darker moments. For some, faith and religion may be the answer, but this piece is more about the internal strength that we can all call upon. Opening in sombre mood, the first phase of the work symbolises the doubts we all have about ourselves and our lives. The opening phrase on solo clarinet appears throughout the piece and could be seen as the central idea of the work, the human spirit itself. The faster, centralsection is about the struggle to overcome the pain we experience and at bar 88 the moment of catharsis occurs. This signals a change of mood and from then on, the clarinet motif is transformed into a feeling of joy and optimism. We have entered the light. / Niveau : 5 / Pièce de concert / Répertoire / Concert Band ou Harmonie

This ?Suite' is not one of my 'epic' instrumental concertos such as the concertos for cello, violin or oboe, but a substantially smaller-structured series of dance forms arranged into a suite. Sunken worlds suddenly emerge here, only to reach the surface, hover in dangerously distorted fashion and then sink back to the bottom.Almost every individual movement allots the solo flute a specific tonal colouring and an instrumental group from the orchestra: in the opening Allemande, the flutes of the orchestra (including alto and bass flute and later also piccolo to include the entire flute family) - the string section in the Sarabande - in both chorales (extremely muted in the first and brutalist in the second), the brass etc. - and it is only in the concluding Badinerie that all orchestral groups are combined, although they are terraced in the Baroque style, one following another, seldom all playing simultaneously.This permits the flute to remain the provider of all impulses - it attaches itself to the wide variety of instrumental colours, becomes suffused with these colours and thereby shines in different lights - acerbic, pale and radiant. This first performance marks the conclusion of my two-year residence with the Cleveland Orchestra. The immense versatility of this fine body of sound (which is indeed treated as such with the sum of its parts) and the exciting dark timbre of its principal flautist Joshua Smith have to a great extent determined the form and tonal character of my Flûte en suite. Jörg Widmann / Flûte Et Orchestre

Par RAMEAU JEAN-PHILIPPE. Richer than ever – Rameau’s “Zoroastre” in the version of 1756. Opera in five acts. Rameau’s revised version of his opera “Zoroastre”, which could be heard and seen between 20 January 1756 and 26 March 1757 at the Académie royale de musique, was favourably received. Also from today’s point of view the work profits dramaturgically from many of the changes and seems altogether richer and more tightly woven than the original of 1749. The subject matter of the libretto, derived from Ancient Persian sources, is timeless: the struggle between good and bad. The good is embodied by the religious reformer Zoroastre, a representative of the supreme light being Orosmade. He is opposed by the ambitious magician Abramane who serves Ariman, the spirit of the dark. The opera includes some of Rameau’s most ecstatic and spiritual musical numbers, such as the episode of sun worship in Act 3 with the sublime „Hymne à la Lumière“, which, for unknown reasons, was not integrated in the revision of 1756. It is therefore included in Appendix 3 of this Bärenreiter edition. Incidentally, with “Zoroastre” the prologue, wh ich had been customary since the beginnings of French opera in the 1670s, was abandoned. Instead Rameau was the first to introduce an overture which set the scene for the entire drama and thereby anticipated Gluck’s opera reform by many years. Here we present the instrumental numbers for concert performance. - Based on the first scholarly-critical edition, published as part of “Opera Omnia Rameau” - Instrumental numbers in order of performance, but also grouped by key in the list of contents, enabling them to be combined freely into orchestral suites - Published with performance material on hire / Date parution : 2022-11-08/ Répertoire / Orchestre