Reviews

Outre-mémoire (...) ventures into a musical exploration of the slave trade... The concert begins before the musicians of Ensemble Variances have even assumed their position. They move throughout the space, and sounds emanate from everywhere... time and again, rhythm remains the driving force.

The production received overwhelming praise and response from critics and audiences.

Thierry Pécou established Ensemble Variances in 2009 and since that time has attracted attention from across the globe with his distinct, beyond definition productions. During his tenure at Paris Oper, Gérard Mortier called these forms "frontière"... At this borderline or rather cross-border area, Thierry Pécou now introduces the "choreographic oratorio".

Inside the Théâtre des Arts, an extraordinary assemblage of songs, music, dances and staging of wild animals - wolf, vulture, owls and eagles, directed the specialist Luc Petton and his company Le Guetteur took place.

Sound of the slave trade - The way the composer refers to Caribbean music and jazz - not by simply quoting it but always remaining true to Thierry Pécou - makes Outre-mémoire a fascinating piece!

Outre-mémoire is a deeply moving work and performed by brilliant musicians!

The ceremonial and ritualized aspect of the composer's music - the genetic code of his language - gives pride of place to percussions...

Thierry Pécou is a musician who never repeats himself and who considers every new work as an achievement... he is a unique artist without any comparison in the contemporary landscape.

Walking in Beauty takes Modulus Festival to new realms.

The cello, played by the indefatigable Anssi Karttunen, acts as a mediator between the ensemble and the deep-sea sounds … and the results are strikingly beautiful, sometimes discomfiting, and in the end profoundly elegiac.

The ensemble Variances under the baton of Thierry Pécou formed the most experimental point in the program. (...) The music became an all-encompassing spatial experience. Frenetic applause from the audience.

One of the evening's highlights is the performance of La Voie de la Beauté (engl.: Walking in Beauty) by the chamber ensemble Variances under the baton of the French composer, Thierry Pécou. (...) Variations of the tonal soundscapes, sequences and colours are intriguingly tested out and impressively echo as rhythmic mosaics within the resonating church.

Outre-mémoire is thus a work that is intensely personal and yet universal for invoking fundamental and still timely questions about wealth and poverty, exploitation and oppression.