Music to picture

Customer activity

The Cadre Noir trains and perfects equestrian executives. True experts in their discipline, the equerry's main mission is to pass on technical and theoretical knowledge. They put their knowledge and experience to good use by taking part in international competitions, either as competitors or trainers. They can draw on research and documentation centers to improve and diversify teaching in technical and pedagogical fields. Numerous symposia and research days are organized every year. Well-educated, informed by the teachings of the great masters of equitation and curious about the evolution of equestrian practices, the Cadre Noir's equestrians actively contribute to maintaining and promotingtraditional French equitation through public presentations in France and abroad.

Context and purpose of the project

Context & Equestrian heritage
In 2011, UNESCO declared traditional French equestrianism to be part of humanity's intangible cultural heritage, making the Cadre Noir de Saumur the privileged guardian of this living tradition. This authentic art defends a refined vision of equitation - a relationship imbued with respect, listening, delicacy and attention - where harmony cannot be decreed, it must be felt.

Birth of the musical project
It was in this subtle equestrian philosophy that the creation of the music "Relation" was born , the fruit of a close collaboration between Anthony Bro-Petit, an inspired video artist, and the artistic team directed by Frédéric Mercier in Saumur. Their ambition: to conceive a film capable of capturing the very essence of the communion between human and horse - a silent ballet where every glance embodies a thought, every gesture a message.

Between image, sound and emotion
In a visual choreography where time seems suspended, riders and horses interact with a rare fluidity. Music, at the heart of this bond, weaves a delicate soundtrack, capable of stirring the emotions of the spectator as much as the momentum of the equestrian couple. It becomes that invisible breath that reveals the poetry of the moment, in the image of the lightness that traditional French equitation aims to achieve.

A tribute to the living relationship
"Relation" is more than just a musical work: it's a celebration of the silent beauty of gestures, an invitation to perceive the depth of the bonds forged with living things. It makes tangible what the Cadre Noir has embodied for centuries - a nobility of gesture, a humility of spectacle, and a respectful communion between rider and animal.

Musical universe requested by the customer

The musical commission for "Relation" had a clear ambition: to translate into sound what riders feel in their intimate bond with their horse. The client wanted a timeless, spellbinding soundtrack inspired by the cinematic universe of "Interstellar". Music that doesn't just tell a story, but takes you on a journey through the deep, contrasting emotions of the equestrian relationship.

The writing was thus built around a perpetual movement, similar to breathing.

• Rising and falling waves of music add dramatic tension and emotional intensity, like a galloping animal's powerful breath.
• These arcs of sound create a dynamic in which the listener is carried along, carried away, before being deposited in spaces of calm and suspension.

To this power is added a search for lightness and clarity. Solemn moments, suspended outside time, create a crystalline serenity - like those silent moments when the rider, in complete harmony with his horse, forgets the outside world. The music mirrors this fragile, intimate dialogue, where every nuance counts.

Relation" explores duality:

• strength and delicacy,
• tension and release,
• intensity and peace.

An alchemy of sound that seeks to capture that inner emotion, both powerful and discreet, that every rider experiences when he maintains this unique bond with his horse day after day.

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The process

The production of "Relation " was not a quick process: it was the fruit of over a year's work. It took time to find the right images, to put the project together with precision and, above all, to go back and forth between the various stages of creation. The objective was clear: achieve a perfect balance between the emotional power of the images and that of the music, so that every detail served the intensity of the message.

In contrast to the previous project with the Cadre Noir, an additional dimension was added to the work: the search for the voice. Several attempts were made to find the right interpretation, in both French and English. Once the voice had been chosen, the recording and mixing stages had to be completed, with a major technical challenge: to allow the spoken text to shine through and assert itself, without ever overpowering the already dense and powerful music.

The result is a delicate but successful balance in which voice, music and image respond in perfect harmony. The poetry of the text, the depth of the soundtrack and the majesty of the images combine to offer the spectator an immersive experience, both intimate and universal.

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