May 2023
Création mondiale de "L'Arbre de Vie", Fantaisie concertante pour orgue et orchestre
May 25th 8h30 pm, the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, conducted by Nil Venditti, and Isabelle Demers on the organ, will premiered "L'Arbre de Vie", concertante fantasy for organ and orchestra.
" The Tree of Life is often seen as a symbol of eternity and is found in many cultures and has been the subject of numerous pictorial respresentations.
The roots of this tree represent the origins of life. The tree unfolds vertically with the trunk, symbolising solidity and strenght, and then continues its evolution with the branches, which sometimes fall back to join the roots. In this way, it represents circularity, where the roots become branches and vice versa.
For this concertante fantasy for organ and orchestra, I wanted to define the different parts of the tree and its characteristics from a sound point of view. The work begins by exploring the low register of the orchestra and the organ, with melodic lines that respond to each other and intertwine, like roots. They lead to a more harmonic, vertical part, referring to the trunk of the tree, where the organ and the brass respond to each other. Then the woodwinds of the orchestra and the organ take up the root motifs in the high register and develop them, symbolising the branches and their close relationship with the roots. The following parts of this fantasy superimpose the different elements through variations, culminating in a cadenza for the organ, which takes up all the musical elements on its own. The last part of the work features a calming atmosphere of tinkling sounds symbolising the fruits of the tree, before the final burst of the organ and orchestra. [...] "