The French Music Exploration thread

[pjme]

French composer born in 1947 in Asnières who died in 2004.
In parallel with his university studies in the natural sciences, Arab literature and ethnomusicology, Jean-Louis Florentz entered the Paris Conservatory in the classes of Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Schaeffer and Antoine Duhamel (1971-1975). Many study trips took him, notably, to Kenya, Polynesia and Israel. Devoting himself to etho-ecology (the study of behaviour in its interaction with the ecological environment), he also undertook Semitic studies (1989). His music became the echo of his knowledge of extra-European cultures and music, of the world of birds and of his deep spirituality. His works include Magnificat (1980), Laudes (1985), Asùn (1988), Requiem de la Vierge (1988), Le songe de Lluc Alcari (1994), L'ange du tamaris (1995), L'anneau de Salomon (1998), L'enfant noir (2001), Qsar Ghilâne (2003). Appointed teacher of ethnomusicological analysis at the Lyons Conservatory (1985), he was elected member of the Académie des Beaux-arts in 1995.
Imo, Florentz's  style can be situated at crossroads with Dukas, Debussy, Koechlin, Messiaen, Dutilleux , Jolivet. He "...  draws inspiration as much from the French symphonic tradition stemming from Debussy as from an African-style approach to music. The resulting richness of harmonic coloration is matched by a heightened sense of incantatory melody.  "
https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/composer/4433/Jean-Louis-Florentz/

I have very fond memories of his "Requiem de la vierge" (Asun).
Françoise Pollet (soprano), Ian Caley (ténor), Louis Landuyt (baryton), Choeur et maîtrise de Radio France, Nouvel Orchestre Philharmonique, Claude Bardon (direction)[Concert enregistré le 15/12/1988 - Archive INA : 00363137]
L'anneau de Salomon is an opulent symphonic poem , slow and mysterious. The wordless chorus has a limited contribution and conductor Petitgirard exlains that  "...For the choir he had in fact written as for soloists and this exceeded the ranges of the majority of the choristers and forced me either to forget this chorus "ad libitum" or, as I did, to delete only a few impossible measures....'

I wonder what you think of it.