Krisp

Hey thank you very much! I just realized that the subtitle track was wrong. It's fixed, we can activate English subtitles without problem. In any case, thank you for listening.

Hello everyone, I have the immense pleasure of sharing with you the complete cycle of melodies for baritone and piano, the imitation of Notre-Dame de la Lune. It took me 9 months to compose this. I had put the pieces online on Youtube as they were recorded, except for the last one that closes the cycle and that you can discover in this full video. There is also a big remix work here because I wanted a listening that is in continuity, as if it were a concert or a recital (20 minutes a little more). I have chaptered the whole, for more convenience, and above all, you can activate the English subtitles that will help you see the text and music links. I also tried to frame as best as possible this time, provided you can read the score at the same time (I know that some people prefer). The following steps if I were logical would be to make a computer engraving of the partition (the manuscript is pretty, but not very readable anyway). Then file with a society of authors. It's planned... In the meantime, thank you for listening!

Oh I'm sorry, I totally forgot this time... And it was too late to correct. I will therefore submit a translation here (let's say you will have an overview of the text without necessarily having the correspondences, but there are several games that I had fun making to match text and music... There is even a quote from Fauré's requiem towards the end...) In any case, thank you and thank you again for listening. It makes me very happy... Litanies of the First Quarters of the Moon Blessed Moon Of sleepless swoon, White medallion For Endymion, Fossil star Exiled afar, Jealous tomb Of Salammbô’s bloom, Pier for the fleet Of Mysteries deep, Madonna and miss, Diana–Artemis, Holy watchtower Of our dark hours, Jettatura For games of Baccarat, Very tired dame Of our rooftops’ shame, Potion to stir The firefly’s blur, Rosette and dome Of twilight psalms, Fair cat’s-eye light Of our last rites, Be the Ambulance Of our lost faith! Be the eiderdown Of the Grand Pardon!

But I'm thinking about it! It will probably be clearer that I copy here a translation of the text. It is not easy to read the translation on the Youtube video on the fly. SOLO DE LUNE (after Jules Laforgue) I smoke, sprawled under the sky, On the roof of the stagecoach. My body jolts, my soul is dancing, Like some Ariel. No honey, no bitterness — my soul is dancing. O roads, hills, smoke and valleys, My dear soul — let’s recall a few things. — Her eyes said: “Do you understand? Why don’t you understand?” — O cool woods along the road, O shawl of sadness, Every soul listens a little, And my life must seem lovely! This stagecoach roof Feels like something enchanted. — Her eyes blinked: “Do you understand? Why don’t you understand?” — O moon solo, You defy my pen. O stars, you’re almost frightening, You’re all here! every one! O how brief this hour is! If only there were a way To keep its soul for the autumn to come. — Ah! Why didn’t I fall at your knees? I would have been the model husband — Like the rustle of your dress is the model of all rustles.

Thank you so much! It’s truly rewarding to feel heard — even in the smallest details — especially when working in French, which isn’t always the easiest language to share online. I’m really glad it resonated with you. Laforgue offers us a message of lost love — cruel, universal, and timeless.

Haha, you’re absolutely right — it would definitely save me a fair amount of pencil lead! The reason I generally avoid using key signatures is that I don’t want to feel boxed into a tonal framework while composing. I need to be able to escape at any moment. (Even though in this case, the harmony remains fairly traditional — if slightly wobbly at times…) I’m also a bit wary of giving the performer the “harmonic solution” upfront — sometimes there are several, and it’s up to them to choose what feels most appropriate. So yes, I tend to approach the page as a blank, open space. Most of my manuscripts are working drafts anyway — I really should take the time to clean them up. And when I do, using key signatures might actually be a sensible option. 😉 As for the reference to Dichterliebe — thank you! That cycle has been with me forever… It’s sort of my singer’s Bible, you know. So yes, there may well be echoes of it in what I write — intentional or not. The coda of Dichterliebe is such a marvel — a very strange and beautiful thing — like a page gently closing, a consolation, the dream-kiss of a beloved. We are, after all, speaking of bitterness and love… so of course, we’re already halfway into that world. In any case, thank you for your listening and your advice.

Hello Here is another piece of the cycle "a la lune" according to Jules Laforgue. I didn't count. I must be at 4 or 5 on the same theme. Here is a kind of little song that looks like a waltz. Sweet bitter, of course, since it is lost love... Translation in the video in subtitles. Thank you for your criticism!

Thank you, Henry, for your careful listening. Yes, you’ve pinpointed exactly what I’ve tried to do — and what lies at the heart of my exploration through these Laforgue settings: to stay on the edge. On the edge of tonal harmony, of expected progressions, of almost conventional paths — but always trying to veer off, to wander. The same applies to expression: sometimes as simple as possible, sometimes ambiguous, sometimes hidden. I’m trying to find that forest’s edge where Laforgue leads us with his poetry, into his moonlit twilights and his lost loves — which I know all too well. You mention Schubert — of course, and your ear is sharp. I couldn’t deny it. Once you enter these borderlands, how could you not have Schubert in mind? Again, thank you, Henry — your sensitive listening is a true gift that brings light to my moonlit paths.

A new poetry from the same Laforgue I can post the poem here, which is a beautiful black diamond (an automatic translation but quite close to the meaning) As always at Laforgue, irony, tenderness, idleness of an impossible platonic love We know that he loved a young Englishwoman with no return, and I think it was she who inspired him his most beautiful pages, here in the evening of his short life. Thank you for your reviews and comments! Ah! tonight, my heart feels sick, my heart is with the Moon! O veils of silence, spread out your still lagoons; O rooftops, terraces, basins, loosened necklaces Of pearls, tombs, lilies, grieving cats — give praise To the Moon, our Mistress to all, in her glory: She is the Host! and silence is her ciborium! Ah! how good it feels, oh! so good and sweet, in the halo Of mourning around this finest diamond’s glow! O Moon, you may find me a bit romantic, But tell me — now and then, wouldn’t it be frantic To think — just between us, and only if you please — That I could be your Columbus, on my knees? Well, let’s not speak of that; let’s chant the midnight rite, Preserved in alcohol, steeped in your delights. Slowing down towards us, O weary City, Fibrous cell with broken organs, withered pity! Remember the centaurs, the cities now erased, Palmyra, and the snub-nosed sphinxes of Thebes the chaste; And what Gomorrah, beneath your Lethe lake, Hides catacombs in honor of barren Astarte’s sake! And how mankind, with his “I love you” clichés, Is much too anthropomorphic in his ways, And knows only how to muddle through his days With hellos and goodbyes while twisting love his way. — Ah! As I was saying, and more than once or twice, That my heart is sick — my heart is with the Moon, precise.

Thank you for your two very touching comments. The 5/8 has actually imposed itself, in the double idea of constant imbalance, of a shaky race towards an impossible love. I didn't want it to seem like a free rhythm game (and I almost didn't want it to be noticed). And you have indeed perceived the subtexts that are in this poem, where we are already on the edge of expressionism. His tensions where the carnal and the metaphysical are tied. The entire last cycle of Jules Laforgue (imitation of Our Lady of the Moon) is haunted by this theme. An exile of love, a mourning of love, a throbbing pain, a frustration, and a feverish incandescence. He was probably already very affected by tuberculosis when he wrote this, since it was shortly before his death at the age of 27. And also well seen, I like to sow here and there some "turns" among other secret messages, which are a little Schubertian necessarily (when you have a piano, singing, you want to talk about Love and pain, how else?). Thank you in any case for your deep listening. It makes me immensely happy to know that my music is heard by such benevolent ears. I'm not done with Laforgue...

There is a note of intent (translated into English) in the YouTube description. This can help to contextualize the poem and its musical treatment.

Hello My new music, still on a poem by my dear Jules Laforgue. So for voice (mine) and piano. In French with subtitles Still on the edge of tonal music. In the description of the video on Youtube, you can read a small note of intent that I wrote, which gives some keys to the black and sublime poetry of this young man, who died at the age of 27. (and whose cycle is his last). (And this time, thinking of you, I took care to leave the score roughly readable in the video editing)... Thank you for listening, Reviews and comments welcome!

Oh! We could have crossed paths there! I stayed for a week and returned last Sunday. It would have been nice! I was there for several concerts at the Hong Kong Arts Festival. Beautiful concert hall ! (we had already been there 2 years ago). The program was a kind of cinema concert on Beethoven music. I loved this second stay. The city is fascinating! The first stay was still rather strange because the Covid measures were still active. We sang Fauré's Requiem there.

Thanks a lot For so many good vibes from you!