all we get is life Thélème, Jean-Christophe Groffe, Sting

• John Dowland (1563 - 1626): Song Books:
• 1 Dowland: Song Books: Solo for Voice No. 49. The Year Begins to Be Ripe 01:12
• The Second Book of Songes:
• 2 Dowland: The Second Book of Songes: No. 4, Die not before thy day 01:51
• 3 Dowland: The Second Book of Songes: No. 5, Mourn, mourn, day is with darkness fled 01:49
• 4 Dowland: The Second Book of Songes: No. 3, Sorrow, sorrow, stay, lend true repentant tears 03:04
• John Cage (1912 - 1992): Five:
• 5 Cage: Five 05:00
• Song Books:
• 6 Cage: Song Books: Solo for Voice No. 91 06:06
• John Dowland: Lady if you So Spight mee:
• 7 Dowland: Lady if you So Spight mee 02:21
• John Cage: Eight Whiskus:
• 8 Cage: Eight Whiskus 05:38
• Dream:
• 9 Cage: Dream 05:58
• John Dowland: The Second Book of Songes:
• 10 Dowland: The Second Book of Songes: No. 1, I saw my lady weep 04:57
• 11 Dowland: The Second Book of Songes: No. 2, Flow my tears 03:52
• A Dream:
• 12 Dowland: A Dream 03:46
• John Cage: She Is Asleep:
• 13 Cage: She Is Asleep 08:00
• A Room:
• 14 Cage: A Room 02:26
• John Dowland: The Second Book of Songes:
• 15 Dowland: The Second Book of Songes: No. 6, Time's eldest son, old age, the heir of ease (First part) 01:15
• 16 Dowland: The Second Book of Songes: No. 7, Then sit thee down and say thy 'Nunc dimittis' (Second part) 01:04
• 17 Dowland: The Second Book of Songes: No. 8, When others sing 'Venite exultemus' (Third part) 01:20
• John Sting (b. 1951), Dominic Miller (b. 1960): Shape Of My Heart:
• 18 Sting, Miller: Shape Of My Heart 04:17
• Total Runtime 01:03:56

Info for all we get is life

Thélème brings together John Dowland, John Cage and Sting for its album "all we get is life".

Thélème brings together two composers almost 400 years apart: John Dowland, with his Second Booke of Songs or Ayres, and John Cage, whose Song Books marked the end of the twentieth century. As a special guest on the album, 17-time Grammy Award winning artist Sting offers a new version of his hit song, “Shape of My Heart “ arranged by Jean-Christophe Groffe and Nikki Buzzi.

Thélème's new album, All we get is life, features two composers almost 400 years apart: the English composer John Dowland (1563-1626) and the American John Cage (1912-1992).

In this programme, the compositions of the two musicians enter into a dialogue. Taken from John Dowland's Second Booke of Songs or Ayres, Thélème records here the complete works for two voices and lute, which are interwoven with large excerpts from John Cage's Song Books. Enhanced by a viol consort and a modular synthesiser, Thélème also presents personal explorations of various works by the American composer and poet, developing an unexpected soundscape.

In addition to a certain sobriety of expression, both works are concise in form, intimate in execution and, above all, a delight in words.

"The former (Dowland) offers a sort of very delicate threeway conversation; the latter (Cage) is the result of a work of concentration intended to reduce music to its essential elements, among which silence also has its rightful place", in the words of Jean-Christophe Groffe, founder of Thélème.

A true sound experience is offered here by an ensemble always keen to add modern touches to its interpretation, between impertinence, humor and delicacy. Already on their previous album Baisiez moy (Aparté, 2021 - Gramophone Award Winner (Early music) 2022), Thélème didn't hesitate to use Fender Rhodes on pieces by early music composer Josquin Desprez.

In All we get is life, synthesizer and vocal transformations meet the lute, and electronics effects immerse the listener in a minimalist aesthetic. Around this album, Thélème has also developed a complete universe combining music, photography, film and performance with its own singular language. Inspired by the indications given by John Cage in his Song Books, the album cover is the result of a collaboration between Jean-Christophe Groffe, photographer Benjamin Hénon and stylist Valentine Mazel.

As the albums’ special guest and an enthusiast of John Dowland, from whom he drew imspiration for his 2006 album Songs from the Labyrinth , Sting delivers with Thélème an intimate and cosmic version of his timeless ballad “Shape of My Heart.” He‘s also featured in Dowland's Flow my tears video (created by Le Jardin des solutions).

Sting, vocals
Dominic Miller, guitar
Thélème
Jean-Christophe Groffe, direction

ENSEMBLE THÉLÈME
Founded in 2013, Thélème brings together musicians who offer an open and original interpretation of early music. Around its foundation of voice and lute, the ensemble includes instruments from different periods – viola da gamba, saxophone, ondes Martenot, modular synthesizer – and works with authors, actors, dancers, choreographers, and other creative minds. Thélème thus explores a shifting musical territory, aiming to invent a coherent language and to offer new listening perspectives, the opposite of the museal.

Devoted to Renaissance polyphony, the ensemble is particularly enthusiastic about sixteenth-century secular music, shaped by the development of music printing. Thélème is fascinated by the context in which these works were created and performed and how they were used. Secular music was originally a private form of entertainment intended primarily to delight its performers. This practice would become fertile ground for new, subersive forms characterized by pleasure. Thélème’s goal is not to reproduce these avant-garde secular works that highlight Renaissance contrasts between elegance and humor, finesse and obscenity. Rather, through blending genres and sheer audacity, the ensemble aims to bring this music to our time, to integrate its modernity with the present. Thélème embraces the past by maintaining a living dialogue with early works and nurtures a fruitful anachronism.

Jean-Christophe Groffe
was born in France and now lives in Switzerland. He first studied classical guitar, then musicology in France. During his studies, his interest in the voice and especially vocal polyphony was awakened. He then devoted himself to singing and took lessons from Howard Crook in Paris. He is particularly interested in Renaissance and Baroque music, which is why Jean-Christophe Groffe also studied singing at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Evelyn Tubb and Gerd Türk. He also had lessons with Andreas Scholl, Anthony Rooley and Andrea Marcon and obtained a diploma in singing, ensemble music and pedagogy. He studied choir conducting in France with Daniel Bargier and with Hans Martin Linde in Basel. Enthusiastic about stage work, Jean-Christophe Groffe has participated in numerous music theater projects in Paris, Zurich, Basel, Rouen and Tours as a soloist, ensemble singer and choir singer. He has also sung under the direction of renowned conductors such as Ton Koopman, Frans Brüggen, Masaaki Suzuki, Andrea Marcon, Pablo Heras-Casado, Christopher Hogwood, Mariss Jansons, Bernard Haitink, Charles Dutoit, Marek Janowski, Alan Gilbert and Heinz Holliger. Jean-Christophe Groffe, who is also interested in new music of the 20th and 21st centuries, is a member of the ensemble SoloVoices, a vocal quartet specializing in contemporary music. In addition to his activities as a singer, he leads choirs in Basel and the surrounding area, teaches singing at the Muttenz General Music School and gives lectures on the interpretation of French music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Jean-Christophe Groffe is the founder and director of the professional ensemble Thélème. At the heart of his work is understanding the artistic and sociological context and direct access to the sources. For him, the performer's attitude towards the music is crucial. He sees music as a contemporary object and does not want to recreate a past universe.

Sting (Gordon Sumner)
born 2 October 1951, better known by his stage name Sting, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor. He was the principal songwriter, lead singer, and bassist for the new wave rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and launched a solo career in 1985. Sting incorporated heavy elements of jazz, classical, and worldbeat into his music, writing lyrics that were literate and self-consciously meaningful, and he was never afraid to emphasize this fact in the press. For such unabashed ambition, he was equally loved and reviled, with supporters believing that he was at the forefront of literate, intelligent rock and his critics finding his entire body of work pompous. Either way, Sting remained one of pop's biggest superstars for the first ten years of his solo career.

Booklet for all we get is life