Anti-Melancholicus Alia Mens & Olivier Spilmont

• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750): Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr zu dir, BWV 131:
• 1 Bach: Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr zu dir, BWV 131: Sinfonia e Coro "Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir" 04:28
• 2 Bach: Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr zu dir, BWV 131: Aria con Corale "So du willst, Herr, Sünde zurechnen" 04:22
• 3 Bach: Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr zu dir, BWV 131: Coro "Ich harre des Herrn, meine Seele harret" 03:35
• 4 Bach: Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr zu dir, BWV 131: Aria con Corale "Meine Seele wartet auf den Herrn von einer Morgenwache" 06:04
• 5 Bach: Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr zu dir, BWV 131: Coro "Israel hoffe auf den Herrn; denn bei dem Herrn" 03:52
• Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13:
• 6 Bach: Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13: Aria "Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen" 07:38
• 7 Bach: Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13: Recitativo "Mein liebster Gott" 01:06
• 8 Bach: Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13: Choral "Der Gott, der mir hat versprochen" 02:44
• 9 Bach: Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13: Recitativo "Mein Kummer nimmet zu" 01:11
• 10 Bach: Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13: Aria "Ächzen und erbärmlich Weinen" 07:55
• 11 Bach: Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen, BWV 13: Choral "So sein nun, Seele, deine" 00:46
• Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 "Actus tragicus":
• 12 Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 "Actus tragicus": Sonatina 02:32
• 13 Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 "Actus tragicus": Chorus "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit" 01:51
• 14 Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 "Actus tragicus": Arioso "Ach, Herr, lehre uns bedenken" 02:06
• 15 Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 "Actus tragicus": Aria "Bestelle dein Haus; denn du wirst sterben" 01:01
• 16 Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 "Actus tragicus": Chorus "Es ist der alte Bund" 03:41
• 17 Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 "Actus tragicus": Aria "In deine Hände befehl ich meinen Geist" 02:26
• 18 Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 "Actus tragicus": Arioso e Chorale "Heute wirst du mit mir; Im Paradies sein" 03:57
• 19 Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 "Actus tragicus": Chorus "Glorie, Lob, Ehr und Herrlichkeit" 02:44
• Total Runtime 01:03:59

Info for Anti-Melancholicus

For Alia Mens, performing this music today is not only a matter of knowledge. It is a matter of rediscovering that incredibly intense energy of persuasion which is at the source of this music and allows the listener as well as the performer to tear themselves away from the everyday to propel us into the revealing power of the moment.

The work that Bach conceived, stemming from a text, has the capacity (almost fantastic when one closely questions the springs that music exerts on us) to animate, literally, a scenic description, to give flesh and bone to a thought, to make audible the ineffable. So that music and language can achieve what neither of them can do separately.

This quest, like the essence of this music, goes beyond the search for beauty and has nothing to do with entertainment, but rather with what seems to be a space capable of renewing being.

Alia Mens
Olivier Spilmont, direction

Alia Mens
brings together singers and instrumentalists practicing on historical instruments under the direction of Olivier Spilmont. Alia Mens' first album, "La Cité Céleste", devoted to 3 Weimar Cantatas by J.S. Bach (Cantatas BWV 12, 18 and 161) and released in 2017, was received with real enthusiasm by critics, including Gramophone, France Musique ("coup de coeur" of several broadcasts), RTBF , Musik WDR, and the BBC, which broadcast one of its concerts in their series "Europe's Best Concerts of the Year". The reception given by critics, programmers and the public to his work on the works of Bach shows that the ensemble is capable of bringing a new light and reading of these works, which finds its audience. Alia Mens has been identified by critics for its depth, its sobriety, its expressive and poetic accuracy. These qualities give the listener an intimate access to these works and make him more sensitive and open to listening. For Alia Mens, interpreting Bach's sacred music today is not only a matter of knowledge. It is a matter, beyond the religious beliefs of each person, of finding that incredibly intense energy of persuasion which allows everyone, listener and performer alike, to tear themselves away from the everyday to propel themselves into the revelatory power of the moment. Alia Mens has been performing for several years on national and international stages (Bozar - Brussels, Salle Bourgie in Montreal, Quebec, Opéra de Lille, Théâtre d'Arras, Phenix in Valenciennes, La Barcarolle in Saint Omer, le Bateau Feu in Dunkerque, Teatro de Vicenza... ) and in festivals such as the Festival of Ambronay, International Festival of Baroque Music of Valetta in Malta, Tage Alter Muzik of Regensburg, Festival Music and Memory, Midsummer Festival, Festival Jean de la Fontaine, Festival Music and Nature in Bauges, Festival of the Abbeys in Lorraine...

For the 2021/2022 season, Alia Mens will undertake its first opera production with Henry Purcell's King Arthur, and will take a step aside by exploring the a capella repertoire of Arvo Pärt. The 2022/2023 season sees the release of Alia Mens' second album, Anti-Melancholicus, devoted to three new cantatas by J.S. Bach, as well as a first foray into the repertoire of W.A. Mozart. Alia Mens is in residence in Boulogne-sur-Mer since September 2021. Alia Mens is supported by the DRAC Hauts de France, the Région Hauts-de-France and the Département du Pas-de-Calais, and benefits from the support of the Caisse des Dépôts for its projects. The ensemble is in residence in Boulogne-sur-Mer and is a member of FÉVIS.

Booklet for Anti-Melancholicus