Meditations on a Musette by Couperin
Inspired by François Couperin's ‘Musette from the Royal Concerts’, Sami Yusuf’s new composition reveals unexpected intersections between seemingly distant musical traditions. After a brilliant and faithful interpretation of Couperin's piece, the composer takes us deep into the world of his musical roots with the lyrical melodic phrasing and tonal system of the Azerbaijani Segah mugham, a Turkic variant of the maqam system. It is a shift in musical language both striking and seamless because, while the Musette is composed in a major scale, there is emphasis on the interval of a third, a fundamental element of the Segah mugham. These mirrored themes give way to the enchanting sound Ballaké Sissoko’s kora and spellbinding vocal solos by Sami Yusuf, Nabyla Maan, Eléonore Fourniau, and Ilyos Arabov that imbue the piece with a transcendent dimension, before returning to the work’s Baroque underpinning.
Drawing from great artistic traditions of human history, these ‘Meditations’ open a door to a world of musical languages that are both familiar and exotic.
‘Meditations on a Musette by Couperin’ is a new composition by Sami Yusuf from the second of his ‘When Paths Meet’ series. It features The Sami Yusuf Ensemble, The Scoring Orchestra of Paris, The Métaboles, and stellar soloists and specialist musicians in a stunning collaboration. Performed at the Paris Philharmonic. Lyrics in Persian, Arabic, and Turkish are from the poetry of Rumi, Abu al-Hasan al-Shushtari, and Pir Sultan Abdal.
CREDITS:
Composed by Sami Yusuf & François Couperin
Turkish words: Pir Sultan Abdal
Persian words: Rumi
Arabic words: Abul al-Hasan al-Shushtari
Performed at the Philharmonie de Paris
Listen/Watch: [ Ссылка ]
