Trois fables de monsieur de La Fontaine en forme d'etude

Le singe (Benoit Menut)L'oiseau blesse d'une fleche (Benoit Menut/ Jean De La Fontaine)Parole de Socrate (Benoit Menut/ Jean De La Fontaine)Benoit Menut was born in Brest, in 1977, surrounded by a family composed of musicians. He studied music at Conservatoire de Brest and met Pierick Houdy, and then he wrote his first works. After that, he studied in CNR and CNSM, Paris, and then he worked with Olivier Greif from 1998 to 2000. There are many choral pieces in his catalog. They were written for Les Cris de Paris, the Ensemble Benjamin Britten, the Viva Lux trio, and the Choeur National des Jeunes ACJ. However, there are also chamber music works written for Callioppee, Carre Mele, and Trombamania for example, and an opera for children which extracts were given to the Cite de la Musique. He is a fully qualified teacher, and he teaches music at Conservatories of 12th and 17th arrondissements of Paris. He wrote a textbook for ear training entitled "La dictee en musique." which was published by editions Lemoine and he wrote a biography of Guy Ropartz in association with Mathieu Ferey published by editions Papillon. Website: www.benoitmenut.com(Translated from French)Benoit Menut wrote those words for "These works were a request of Valerie Fayet and were written in June, 2006 for the Choeur National des Jeunes ACJ. I chose three little known fables which deal with vanity, stupidity and human violence. Jean de La Fontaine's writing is always strong, fine and funny. As each fable is based on a precise thing, I chose subtitles to explain them. That's why I precised "Parole de Socrate" was dealing with monodic research and intertextuality, I precised "L'Oiseau blesse d'une fleche" was dealing with fundamentals and colors, and I precised that "Le Singe" was dealing with rhythmic and modal analysis. Those pieces can be performed separately, but they are gathered in a particular rhythmic order, which is: moderate, slow, and quick. This is similar to the way choir cycles worked at the beginning of the 20th century (Ravel, Debussy, and others). I think that if the fables are recited before being musically performed by an actor or a chorister, it enables the public to see the entire work from a more poetic' angle."