DEKEISTER, Olivier 3 motets

One evening, drifting off the French West Indies in a small boat with a failed engine, the return to dry land at nightfall was a miracle; Jubilate Deo alla rumba was born of that adventure.

Then there is my firm belief that liturgical music is not meant to be sad. During the Baroque period, all liturgical music in France (other than plainchant) adopted dance rhythms, and the organist-composers of the time of Louis  XIV left us many pieces worthy of the ballroom. Others, in the late nineteenth century, even played the congregation out with liturgical French cancans! With Ave verum tango I wanted to revive some of that fine tradition.

Finally, one of the most beautiful pieces of French music of the mid-twentieth century is undoubtedly Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time; “Praise to the eternity of Jesus” came as a revelation to me. My Tantum ergo is a sort of tribute.

Ave verum

Jubilate Deo

Tantum ergo