Nantes sous les bombes alliees

The documentary Nantes sous les bombes alliées is the story of a tragic mistake: on 16th of September 1943, American "flying fortresses" take off to bomb the harbor of the French city of Nantes. Unfortunately, they will miss their target and cause the death of 1000 innocent people (with 2000 injured). Never, during World War 2, has a city has suffered so many losses in such a short time. This is the moving story of this tragic event related by survivors with unique period documents.

For such a grave subject, Maximilien Mathevon felt that the music should be respectful and minimalist. From the beginning, it was agreed that very little original music was necessary (the documentary already containing many period songs). Maximilien then tested several approaches and worked on various musical options.

He decided to use many sounds of verrophone and other glass instruments, with their timeless and sensitive musical color. The first 11 tracks on this album feature the final score as well as the various musical researches. Track 12 was specially composed for the album. This is a suite of 11 minutes based on some thematic elements of the score: an opportunity to develop secondary themes with a less minimalist approach and outside of the context of the documentary.