XASAX
Marcus Weiss · saxophone soprano et alto
Pierre-Stéphane Meugé · saxophone alto
Jean-Michel Goury · saxophone ténor
Serge Bertocchi · saxophone baryton

thélème
Julien Freymuth · altus
Lior Leibovici · ténor
Ivo Haun · ténor
Jean-Christophe Groffe · basse et direction
Ziv Braha · luth

All the words and all the shouting of the men and women, the beating of the fighting men and women, the roaring of the weapons, the war songs, the neighing of the horses, enough, all the noise of the battle froze over then. Now that the hard winter is over, all this is thawing out again in the warm, mild weather and is becoming audible”. This and other excerpts from Rabelais’ famous novel cycle Gargantua and Pantagruel provide the associative space for the Ensemble thélème’s latest project. Works from the Renaissance (which reflect the spirit of Pantagruel) or modern ones that refer to this epoch are juxtaposed – often onomatopoeically – with “mutations”. For the ensemble, “the primary aim is to explore the creative process that is characteristic of the Renaissance. Here, models left behind by previous generations – or by antiquity – are imitated and made their own. The result is a musical adventure journey that is a real challenge.