Melodramas

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is generally regarded as the inventor of melodrama- a mixture of spoken word and instrumental music. Rousseau, evoked in this recording by Jean-Rene Combes-Damien, had made quite an impact by introducing this new genre, and immediately sparked enthusiasm among his contemporaries. The A(É)IA group, created by Anja Thomas and Ivane Bellocq, is interested in a repertoire which subtly combines music and recited poetry. The poets reciting their poems are treated as instruments in the full sense of the word. They evoke whirling worlds, plenty of anxiety, and dreams. The release opens with famous German operatic composer Aribert Reimann, whose composition is built around the text by Günter Grass. The project also features Édith Azam, Vincent Tholomé and Anja Thomas (poets), Ivane Bellocq (flutes) and Pauline Haas (harp).