The Blue Hour is that fleeting moment between the end of the night and the rising day, that moment of silence, uncertainty and promise where suspended life may locked up or is transformed…

This project was born out of Marianne Piketty’s desire to link the luminous work of Hildegarde de Bingen to Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s Funeral Concerto.

The German composer, fiercely opposed to Nazism, chose inner exile as early as 1933, refusing to take part in any cultural life but wishing to bear witness. Each of his works are denunciations and calls for resistance. His concerto, written in 1939 and dedicated to his four-year-old son, is a true cry against human blindness, but also a work that is meant to be a bearer of hope and a deep faith in the future of humanity.

This music, with its dark aspects, resonates with the celestial music of Hildegarde de Bingen. At once abbess, composer, doctor and writer, she was known to have been inspired from childhood by many divine visions. The three chosen Visions are three founding pillars that guide to the light.

In order to question the 21st century, we commissioned Philippe Hersant to write Une vision d’Hildegarde, which is like a link between these two worlds – a mystical vision and a vision of hell.

This album was nominated for the awards Les Victoires de la Musique Classique 2021 in the Recording Category.

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Shostakovich’s two pieces for string octet complete this program, echoing the quotations from the concerto. Shostakovich was only 18 years old when he composed these two movements which were dedicated to his friend and poet Volodia Kurtchavov, who died prematurely. These pieces unleash all the visceral force that strikes in Shostakovich’s work and never leave the listener indifferent.

Beyond a succession of works that could exist by their eloquence, strength and beauty alone, it is a question of plunging into a sensory and intellectual experience that reminds us that it is neither places nor times that determine our passions.

📰IN THE PRESS📰

“In Hartmann’s Funeral Concerto, Marianne Piketty is irresistible” Le Monde (2020)

“Inspired by strings that have trunks (Le Concert idéal) and by a violinist gifted for roaming (Marianne Piketty), Philippe Hersant delivers here one of his most accomplished works” Le Monde (2020)

“A rich and inspiring record that invites you to look deep inside yourself.” ComposHer (2020)