(2022) Villard & Martin : Doubles messes a cappella Hot on Sale

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(2022) Villard & Martin : Doubles messes a cappella

DOUBLE MASSES

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Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir a cappella is one of the repertoire’s most widely performed monuments, and Valentin Villard’s Mass for six voices could well follow in its footsteps. Although 90 years separate these two works, there is an evident filiation between Frank Martin and Valentin Villard. Both composers develop their own harmonic lan­guage based on contemporary practices, seek lines of great vocality and explore the orchestral dimen­sion of juxtaposing human voices. Furthermore, both put their writing to the service of an expres­sion of interiority devoid of affectation, with total sincerity and the same ethical and artistic aim.

Frank Martin wrote his Mass for Double Choir a cap­pella in 1922 (except for the Agnus Dei, which dates from 1926) but did not intend it to be performed pub­licly or even published. It was not until he composed In Terra pax at the end of the Second World War that he considered writing sacred music for public per­formance. Then, after having produced Golgotha, Le Mystère de la nativité (The Mystery of Nativity), Pilate, Psaumes de Genève and Maria-Triptychon, he agreed to satisfy the curiosity his Mass had aroused. The piece was finally premiered in 1969. What fol­lowed is a well-known fact: Frank Martin’s Mass for Double Choir became one of the composer’s most famous works, although it is daunting to perform. It is, however, written in a straightforward modal and diatonic language, which only remotely anticipates the refinement and strong personality of Martin’s works from Le Vin herbé onwards.

World Premiere Recording

Valentin Villard’s Mass for six voices is written for choir a cappella and a sextet of soloists within the ensemble. In this sense, it is also a mass for double choir, one being contained within the other. Writ­ten between 2008 and 2011, it is one of the young composer’s few pieces that were not commissioned. Its writing is ample, generous and dense; it explores the choir’s orchestral dimension, building on the tonality or breaking away from it, giving rise to re­fined and precise harmonic clouds through aston­ishing aleatory passages. Its performance is also very tricky: through the simplicity of his writing, the composer achieves the musical density and depth that are now his hallmark.

With this recording of Frank Martin and Valentin Villard’s masses, the Académie vocale de Suisse ro­mande intends to compare two works that present a strong bond of filiation. The ensemble also wishes to value its close relationship with past and present composers from the French-speaking part of Swit­zerland.

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Académie vocale de Suisse romande

The Académie vocale de Suisse romande (AVSR) is a professional chamber choir that welcomes profes­sional singers or music students from the whole of the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Renaud Bouvier and Dominique Tille, the choir’s source of in­spiration and artistic directors, created the ensemble in August 2009. The choir is open to singers capable of assuming a particular function in balancing and fusing the choir’s vocal ranges. Depending on the project, this quest for alchemy enables the ensemble to obtain a rich palette of vocal colours, thanks to characteristic individual timbres.

The AVSR performs a vast repertoire, but its primary mission is to perform choral music of the 20th and 21st centuries. Such music is rarely presented at a profes­sional level in the Romandie, which is why the en­semble prioritises recent works and premieres.

The AVSR conceives its projects as experiences to be shared on multiple levels and combines the needs of interpretation with a lively concert form. Through its productions, the choir intends to put works into a historical perspective, engage a dialogue between the composers and their time, relate music to chosen locations or perform in unusual venues. The AVSR is recognised as a bold and dynamic professional en­semble that regularly cooperates with the leading actors of the cultural scene.

One of the particularities of the AVSR is its two-head­ed artistic management. The two conductors share the same vision of developing a connection with the voice and choral music for both the public and the singers. They also believe in the emotional potential of the human voice that serves the repertoire and the composers who enrich it.

In 2012, the AVSR’s first recording (Liszt’s Sonata in B minor and Missa Choralis, with organist Benjamin Righetti) was rewarded by the Académie du disque lyrique in Paris with the Hector Berlioz Prize for the best recording of sacred music.

Translation: Michelle Bulloch – musitext.ch

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Académie vocale de Suisse romande

Sopranos
Christine Chamartin Auer
Isaline Dupraz
Marie-Hélène Essade
Anne Montandon*
Marine Le Mouël
Sofia Rauss

Altos
Anne-France Halter
Annina Haug*
Céline Latour Monnier
Véronique Rossier*
Aline Stalder
Cassandre Stornetta

Ténors
Jaime Caicompai
Maël Graa*
Emilio Gutierrez
Bastien Masset
Maxime Thély
Valentin Villard

Basses
Ismael Arróniz
Alain Carron
David Gassmann
Stephan Imboden*
Cao-Thang Jeffrey Pham
Jean-Luc Waeber*

* Solistes de la Messe à 6 voix de Villard.

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Renaud Bouvier

Renaud Bouvier, born in 1968, first studied bassoon, singing, musical analysis and orchestration. In 2002, he graduated from Hervé Klopfenstein’s conducting class at the Lausanne Conservatory. He also holds a degree in literature from the University of Lausanne, where he was an assistant in French literature and carried out various research and publishing man­dates from 1994 to 2014.

Since 2003, he has directed numerous choirs, projects and workshops in the French-speaking part of Swit­zerland. With the choirs he regularly conducts (Aca­démie vocale de Suisse romande, Vocalistes Roman­ds, Choeur de la Cité de Lausanne and Cantabile, the symphonic choir of canton Neuchâtel), he explores a repertoire ranging from small a cappella ensembles to large symphonic choirs, with a pronounced taste for creations and lesser-known works. He premiered Valentin Villard’s Messe à six voix in 2014 with the Vo­calistes Romands, as well as Villard’s Fresque Poétique in 2017 with the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Choeur de la Cité de Lausanne and the Vocalistes Romands. [..]

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Dominique Tille

Dominique Tille was born in Lausanne in 1980. Back in his childhood, he was already immersed in the world of music: his father directed folk choirs while his mother was active in the Vaud folkloric traditions. He graduated from the Conservatoire de Lausanne as a music teacher. His love of singing and choir conduct­ing then led him to the Geneva Music Conservatory, where he studied with Michel Corboz. He then con­tinued his musical training at the Berlin Universität der Künste. After obtaining his Advanced Diploma in Lausanne, he spent four years in New York, splitting his study time between singing, dancing and acting.

Dominique Tille is the founder of the Lausanne Youth Choir, which later became the Voix de Lausanne and the female vocal ensemble Callirhoé. He also conducts the choir of the HEMU (Haute école de musique de Lausanne) and directed the Swiss Youth Choir from 2010 to 2015. Since September 2021, he is the artistic director of the French National Youth Choir. [..]

Read more in the booklet

 

Prochains concerts de L’Académie Vocale de Suisse Romande:

Plus d’infos: https://t.co/Wnhc0Hg6Il

L’album qui sort le 28 janvier chez Claves: https://t.co/7FoO3E0AAP#clavesrecords #AVSR #SuisseRomande #Suisse #Lausanne #Fribourg #Concert #AcadémieVocale #classical #music pic.twitter.com/LSyztcFZ0Z

— Claves Records (@clavesrecords) January 19, 2022

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REVIEWS

24Heures

« [..] Le début de la «Messe à six voix» de Valentin Villard est saisissant, dans ce murmure sombre d’où émerge l’élan céleste du Kyrie. La plasticité de ce savant langage n’empêche pas pour autant la lisibilité immédiate d’une œuvre aux contours mélodiques chatoyants, souvent donnée depuis 2011. L’Académie vocale de Suisse romande dirigée par Dominique Tille et Renaud Bouvier vient d’en réaliser un enregistrement d’une très belle ampleur. » – Janvier 2022

Classica Magazine

« Confronter un jeune compositeur à Franck Martin (1890-1974) est un pari audacieux, tant sa Messe pour double choeur a cappella reste un chef-d’oeuvre du genre. Néanmoins, Valentin Villard, 36 ans, relève dignement le défi. Le Kyrie surprend par son ouverture sur une septième majeure et les enchaînements dans l’Et incarnatus est, avec des notes pivots aux ténors, se montrent d’une grande élégance. La Messe pour double choeur de Franck Martin continue d’éblouir par sa parfaite alliance entre modalité et modernité tonale. Dès le Kyrie, on passe très vite d’une esthétique en organum fleuri à de la quasi-polytonalité. Martin n’oublie pas non plus les mélodies médiévales (le Credo). [..] » – Cécile Chéraqui, avril 2022

Diapason Magazine

« Deux compositeurs, deux messes pour double chœur a cappella, deux chefs. L’Académie vocale de Suisse romande crée sous la direction de Renaud Bouvier l’Opus 44 du Lausannois Valentin Villard (né en 1985), qui suit des pistes néomodales fleuries. Un chemin emprunté avant lui par le Genevois Frank Martin dans un chef-d’œuvre des années 1920 où les forces de Dominique Tille montrent de hautes qualités d’animation et d’intonation. » – Benoît Fauchet, juin 2022

FonoForum

« Die Académie Vocale de Suisse Romande sorgt singend für einen zwingenden Brückenschlag zwischen den 90 Jahre voneinander entfernten und doch wesensverwandten Werken. Kleinigkeiten bei Intonation und Bündelung der Stimmen könnte man bemängeln, muss es aber nicht – so packend gelingt das Ganze.» – Susanne Benda, Mai 2022

Klassik.com

« [..] Frank Martins Messe taugt immer als Kern eines attraktiven Chorprogramms und bestätigt ihren Rang auch hier, in der Deutung der Académie vocale de Suisse romande. Die Messe von Valentin Villard tritt erstaunlich gültig daneben. Und sie löst das Problem, womit man Martins Messe in einem Programm kombinieren sollte, auf bemerkenswert schlüssige Weise. Eine insgesamt lohnende Begegnung. » – Dr. Matthias Lange, März 2022

La Liberté

« Le rapport n’est pas exactement du maître à l’élève, près de 90 ans séparent Frank Martin du Vaudois Valentin Villard, de l’écriture de la Messe pour double chœur du premier de celle de la Messe à six voix du second. Mais une même vocalité dense s’élève, avec des frottements, des tensions qui tirent une grande intensité des voix a cappella. La messe de Valentin Villard (l’un des compositeurs de la dernière Fête des vignerons) entremêle tutti et solos dans des lignes tendues, étirées; l’amplitude – le long credo réconciliateur au cœur de l’œuvre – et l’exigence de la partition la destinent à des professionnels, c’est le cas de la remarquable Académie vocale de Suisse romande. Celle de Frank Martin est devenue un monument choral. Deux œuvres fortes qui résonnent dans le douloureux concert actuel. » – Elisabeth Hass, février 2022

Schweizer Musik Zeitung

« Die Académie vocale de Suisse romande bietet sublime Interpretationen der A-cappella-Messen von Valentin Villard und Frank Martin. Die Académie vocale de Suisse romande überrascht immer wieder mit eigenwilligen Projekten. Auf ihrer neusten CD bei Claves präsentiert sie neben Frank Martins berühmter Messe für Doppelchor a cappella auch die Ersteinspielung von Valentin Villards Messe à six voix op. 44. Das sängerische Niveau ist atemberaubend. [..] » – Grégoire Fillon, April 2024

OpusKlassiek

” [..] The AVSR offers an extremely well-kept choral sound. Articulation and diction are beyond criticism, the Latin pronunciation is flawless and the different timbres blend without a trace of discomfort. The quality of this production is also reflected in the recording made by Johannes Kammann at the church in Roche, Switzerland. [..] “- Aart van der Wal, July 2022

Scènes Magazine

« Pour rendre compte de ce panorama, commençons par une pépite qui réjouira les aficionados de musique chorale. L’Académie Vocale de Suisse Romande, placée depuis sa création en 2009 sous la direction bicéphale de Renaud Bouvier et Dominique Tille, a renoué avec les micros de Claves afin de mettre en miroir deux pièces maîtresses de la musique a cappella de notre temps. [..] L’AVSR livre une lecture soignée et émancipée de ces deux messes qui sont à placer au coeur de l’art choral classique de notre temps et peut ainsi mettre à son crédit une nouvelle réussite discographique, d’autant que la qualité vocale se hisse au plus haut niveau dans cet enregistrement très justement adoubé par la presse spécialisée au-delà des frontières helvétiques. » – Bernard Halter, juin 2022