The penultimate concert in the thirteen-concert cycle featured the world premiere of a Radio France commission for François-Bernard Mâche. For Taranis (one of the most important gods of the Celtic world, Taranis, whose name refers to thunder, displays lightning and a sun wheel), the composer once again drew inspiration from the Greek poet Giorgos Séféris, whose work is closely linked to mythology. But the text entrusted to the Radio France Choir and a narrator - in this case the actor André Wilms - is from the pen of Mâche himself, who points out that "perhaps only music can assume the paradox it embodies: killing time by unfolding it". The score is articulated cyclically through large orchestral sections, often complex in their rhythmic work. The listener soon notices the return of recurring figures and a relative systematism in the use of choral forces, sometimes isolating a solo voice. Figuralism is not absent, just as a direct expressiveness, which might more aptly be described as traditional, pervades the three-quarters of an hour of the piece. Although animated by a renewal of often contrasting attacks, Taranis, with its rather rich dynamic range, almost naively demonstrates its structure, even to the point of drowning, so that the ear is lulled. That's what it's all about: the notion of time becomes rarer as that of space - the succession of different positions summoned up by the composer - becomes clearer.

                                                     Anaclase.com    May 2008

The prize for respect goes to : François-Bernard Mâche with his forty minutes of music (Taranis for narrator, choir and orchestra). World music that remakes history, spiritual cantata with narrator, geological music. A titanic work. 

                          Rodolphe Bruneau-Boulmier         qobuz.com/blogs May 08

We are still haunted by Taranis, hoping to see a recording of this magnificent work soon. Even for me, who, alas, has no poetic sense - has it  been 'siphoned off' by the music ? - François-Bernard' s poem speaks to me with a barbaric grandeur that I would describe sensorially, I don' t know why, as 'Mycenaean', even though I don' t understand much about it in terms of logic. And the interweaving of the music and its verbal support is absolutely fascinating, punctuated by the subterranean vehemence of the narrator. It's so rare these days to hear a musical creation that uplifts and elevates your being in such a way! The same can be said of the visual arts!

                                                 Denis and Agnès Evesque, 19.5.08