Blandine Verlet's Musical Offering: A Rare Glimpse into the Harpsichordist's Artistic Soul

Harpsichordist Blandine Verlet releases "L'Offrande musicale" with Éditions Desclée de Brouwer, a poetic meditation on the sources of her art. In dialogue with Benoît Chantre, she reveals a sensory theory of performance: the magic of a concert arises from a mysterious collaboration of the five senses, where a predictive hearing linked to smell must incarnate in touch, which in turn solicits the ear to achieve a temporal vision of the work, finally shaped by the surest and subtlest taste. She emphasizes the essential role of timbre and true color in harpsichord playing, which, when at its richness (excluding equal temperament), allows form to reach its plenitude, echoing Cézanne. The book also includes allusions to the lives of composers she loves and personal and global events that affect her. Verlet dares to ask: "Would it be monstrous to love something else / To hear differently / From further away / From before our memories?" as a way to exorcise pretentious and historicist interpretations.