La Tempête met Bach, Mendelssohn & Brahms

Surprising connections

The phenomenon Simon-Pierre Bestion and his French vocal-instrumental ensemble La Tempête focus on a broad repertoire. Early music occupies an important place, and the musicians play historical instruments. But alongside Renaissance music, they also throw themselves into Rachmaninoff, and they effortlessly combine Baroque music with modern repertoire. As a starting point, they choose connections and influences between artists, cultures, and eras.

Comforting mournful music

German mournful music takes center stage at this concert. Repertoire in which the composer incorporates his deepest feelings, his most beautiful melodies, and his most refined harmonies. German Baroque compositions such as Heinrich Schütz's Musikalische Exequien and Bach's Köthener Trauermusik form echoes of the past and mirrors of music from later centuries. The fact that Mendelssohn and Brahms extensively studied polyphonic music is reflected in their comforting music, such as in Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem , a masterful composition that not only mourns the deceased but, above all, offers hope to the living. "We could choose to put everything in a display case, but I want to work with it in complete freedom," says Simon-Pierre Bestion about early music.