Lettres ouvertes
Anne Sylvestre and Léo Ferré a cappella
Along similar lines to our Brel and Barbara a cappella programme, « Lettres ouvertes » brings together two of French chanson’s greats: Anne Sylvestre and Léo Ferré.
They combined political engagement with a feeling for words, and they share a lyricism and melodic inventiveness which find echoes in the choral repertoire. The power of their works resonates for listeners still today. Their art embodies revolt and protest, but with an original and poetic significance which is full of humanity and hope.
Anne Sylvestre wrote nearly 300 songs, excoriating the injustices of her times with sensitivity. Her sharp and frequently subversive writing, humanist and feminist, never loses its tenderness and pertinence. Her touching songs are deeply personal, telling stories and revealing things about our own innermost selves… their variety is staggering.
Taking after the ‘rebel’ or ‘cursed’ poets, deliberately mingling poetry with slang, Léo Ferré became the bard of Liberty. His prodigiously powerful texts celebrate and curse life with the same intensity.
Aedes will mingle its 28 voices to make those of these two huge personalities ring out in a variety of transcriptions.
Léo Ferré La chambre (a poem by René Baer)
Léo Ferré Les poètes
Anne Sylvestre Les gens qui doutent
Anne Sylvestre Mon mystère
Léo Ferré L’homme
Anne Sylvestre Bergère
Anne Sylvestre Le centre du motif
Anne Sylvestre Rien qu’une fois faire des vagues
Léo Ferré Ni dieu ni maître
Anne Sylvestre Mon Mari est parti
Léo Ferré Tu n’en reviendras pas
(a poem by Louis Aragon)
Anne Sylvestre Juste une femme
Léo Ferré Avec le temps
Anne Sylvestre La chambre d’or
Léo Ferré Je te donne
Anne Sylvestre Les années qui cognent
Léo Ferré Comme à Ostende
(lyrics by Jean-Roger Caussimon)
Léo Ferré Art poétique
(a poem by Paul Verlaine)
NEW PROGRAMME
1h10 with no interval
Aedes
Mathieu Romano musical director
17 singers
1 conductor
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