Katia & Marielle Labeque - Invocations (2016)

These works, both written at the beginning of the 20th century, are inspired by the religious rites of ancient times. - The Sacre was thought by Stravinsky to transcribe in music the pagan celebrations of polytheistic Russia when Debussy Dreamed of producing a more heterogeneous picture of the different customs of the world of yore. The two men were friends and maintained a correspondence which suggests that Debussy was fascinated and inspired by The Rite of Spring - whose first at the TCE in 1913 deeply marked the spirits. Thus, in a letter sent to Stravinsky in 1912: "I still have in my memory the memory of the execution of your Rite of Spring at Laloy's … It haunts me like a beautiful nightmare and I try, in vain, to d To regain the terrible impression. Debussy wrote his Epigraphs two years later, in 1914.

The two works were both originally conceived for orchestra by their composers -the Epigraphes Antiques were created in a piano version in 1916, Debussy had the idea of ​​making an orchestral piece of it, but showed two very different musical approaches. A pagan past fantasized. While Debussy depicts a dreamlike and phantasmagoric world in a work with oriental, evocative and captivating sounds, served by the use of pentatonic scales, arabesques and descents and chromatic ascent, Stravinsky thinks of a fiery and feverish ballet, Beautiful to the marked rhythm and the movement of a collective trance of deic worship. These two imaginary representations intersect on an album with a strong contrast between unrestrained dance and dream dreaming, in the image of the mystical universe and the exploratory energy of the Labèque sisters.

They interpret the pieces not in four hands, but in versions for two pianos. Stravinsky had thought of a four-hand adaptation of his work to ensure the rehearsals of the ballet, however, "Stravinsky's Stravinsky's Strapless Springtime version … is unplayable and sounds better at two pianos, For pedal issues. If a melody that requires the pedal is for example accompanied by staccato figures that should not be "drowned", then the effect is impossible with four hands whereas the two pianos and their separate pedals allow it. "Explained the two sisters. As for the Epigraphs of Antiquity, they declare: "We have already played them in concert with four hands. But as part of a recording, where everything can be controlled under a magnifying glass, we find it more interesting to play them on two keyboards. The sound, the texture are wider, and it is better to treat what, with four hands, poses physical problems.

TRACKLIST

IGOR STRAVINSKY (1882-1971) - Le Sacre du printemps

01. Introduction (Lento - Più mosso - Tempo I)
02. Augures printaniers — Danses des adolescentes (Tempo giusto)
03. Jeu du rapt (presto)
04. Rondes printanières (Tranquillo - Sostenuto e pesante - Vivo - Tempo I)
05. Jeu des cités rivales (Molto Allegro)
06. Cortège du Sage (Molto Allegro)
07. L'Adoration de la Terre (Le Sage) (Lento)
08. Danse de la terre (prestissimo)
09. Introduction (Largo)
10. Cercles mystérieux des adolescentes (Andante con moto - Più mosso - Tempo I)
11. Glorification de l'élue (Vivo)
12. Évocation des ancêtres (Lento)
13. Action rituelle des ancêtres (Lento)
14. Danse sacrale (Allegro Moderato)

CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) - Six Epigraphes antiques, L.131

15. Pour invoquer Pan, dieu vent d’été
16. Pour un tombeau sans nom
17. Pour que la nuit soit propice
18. Pour la danseuse aux crotales
19. Pour l’Egyptienne
20. Pour remercier la pluie au matin