Hold your breath, bring the glass reverently to your ear and listen carefully, for within, you will hear ‘the soul of wine singing the song of brotherhood in every bottle’.

Within the melody of a bubbling champagne flute, a delicate ear such as Max Jacob’s may perhaps perceive, ‘The same whisper in the sparkling glass, as the sea makes on the sand’. No wonder then, that the French like to ‘sabler le champagne’.

Unleashing the inherent musicality of uncorking a great French cru, the Maestro Remi Loisel’s* legendary French Bottle Ensemble presents a rousing interpretation
of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony,‘in-bottiglia’.


Play the French Bottle Ensemble


Dedicated to the ‘King of wines’ this work’s effervescent qualities were recognized
at its première, moving an elegiac critic to describe the piece as: ‘Radiant beams shooting within us, a longing for every pleasure rising up, while consuming love, hope, and joy, try to burst our breasts with the full-voiced cry from every passion.’ There is a simple profundity in the finale:

‘Pop goes the cork,
Glou-glou goes the bottle,
Clink-clink go the glasses,
And thus goes our life.’

Which has led to its adoption as the closing anthem at gatherings of Gallic wine-tasting brotherhoods**. And fittingly so, for this French haiku captures the essence and hints at the hidden meaning of the mysteries contained in the ‘bottle divine’.

One may go so far to suggest, as has already been postulated by a small group
of champenois cognoscenti, that the explosion of a champagne cork freed from its bottle, is but a faint echo of the seminal Big Bang. Though this may be popping
the cork a bit far.

Nonetheless, every connaisseur knows that good wine represents an all-embracing sensory experience, restorative to man’s dignity and providing solace for the human condition.

Warning
Any excess, even of champagne magnum et bonum, is deleterious to your health
and may cause you to take leave of your senses; starting with your common sense. Moderato cantabile, vinum moderato potabile…

*With kind permission from the artist (www.chateauloisel.com). The maestro vouches that no animal was mistreated during the performance.

** Equal opportunity associations according to the Decree of Primidi Vendémiaire
of 1793. Sisters equally welcome. ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Sorority.’

Mais…Vive la difference tout de même!