I have always been fascinated by the emotional power of an image, whatever its context - in painting, sculpture, cinema, photography, etc. My musical upbringing was largely influenced by early music, my father being a musicologist and a specialist in Spanish Renaissance music, and I was listening to Clément Janequin and Cristobal de Morales when my schoolmates were into the latest pop singer. The Renaissance was the golden age of vocal music, when musical notation found new stability, compositional techniques came of age, and vocal music flourished. Such an influence can be seen in my own writing, with an abundance of counterpoint and modality, and a particular emphasis on the voice. So I have naturally tried to bring film music and vocal writing together, using the choir where a traditional orchestra might be expected, as in my composition Loulou, which was commissioned by the Mikrokosmos ensemble and its musical director Loïc Pierre for G. Pabst's film Loulou, or in my music for the film Norvège (Norway). In the music for Loulou, which is a silent film, the text sung by the choir has a significance of its own - instead of merely illustrating the image, it adds a new layer of meaning, and the audience find themselves in a very special atmosphere.

My friendship with the composer Thierry Machuel and my admiration for his music have encouraged me to devote more and more of my time to choral writing, which is sadly underestimated by today's French composers. The choir is a fascinating instrument with great emotional impact, the voice speaks directly and is intimately connected with the performer. It also has a great variety of timbre and colour, particularly if one looks into vocal music from outside Europe.

I hope you'll enjoy this site and my music,

Julien Reynaud