Nicolas Bacri

Meditation Pastorale op. 157

Méditation pastorale was written for the harpist Isabelle Marie, who wanted a short and poetic piece for flute, viola and harp.

Serenity, simplicity, archaism, but also appeasement and gentleness, is the climate in which the composer worked for this work, drawing on the atmosphere of his earlier and more diatonic pieces. The music was composed with a type of pastoral and psychological description in mind that was close to an imaginary poem that was later found.

The first theme, on a pentatonic motif, is presented to the harp in the lower register, orienting the tonal anchoring (E minor) in the A mode. After a first phrase, a second, twin of the first, repeats what has already been heard until the flute offers a short phrase developing a concluding motivic element of the first phrase. The viola, relayed by the flute on an ostinato of the harp, will lead us to an almost second theme, which can be considered as the true second phrase of the first theme.

The second theme, in A minor, is also pentatonic and notated Delicatissimo. After the partial resumption of the exhibition, the development will follow a very tight motivic logic while proposing necessary variations of textures, such as a trill of the viola relayed by the harp or a fugal chromatic sketch proposed by the flute and viola, superbly ignored by the harp preferring to open a dialogue with its two partners before obstinately perpetuating Two untimely fifths presented by the viola.

The reexhibition will first present the second theme in a versatile tonal context, finally focusing on E b Major, a key on which the flute will re-expose the second phrase of the first theme and then the viola the first, all metamorphosed, which will end the work in the peace of an evening atmosphere, the promise of a calm and tranquil night.