LDV302

The choice of the male-voice choir in unison for the cantus firmus (normally performed by the upper part of the double pedal) sets it on a crest line, with views over two sides simultaneously: on one side the most intellectual musical conception, with its harmonic ‘entanglement’, resulting in a sort of anamorphic image of the chorale’s sound, and on the other, an objective recollection of the religious office through this hymn of penitence - a faithful translation of Psalm 130, presented before Communion. Thus the human voice reminds us that this wonderful piece - admirable, too, from a purely artistic point of view - is rooted in this world. It favours a ‘diagonal reading’ of the chorales, as recommended by Kagel, as ameans of apprehending ‘the autonomous behaviour of the lines’ 12 , independent of the melody: for usually ‘ a peaceful parish sings in the highest voice, but the lower voices seethe’. 13 Soli Deo Gloria . ANDRÉ ISOIR 35 12. M. Kagel, in Silences - J.S. Bach , Editions de la Différence, 1985, p. 245 13. Id.