Les ténèbres is inspired by Baudelaire’s poem, with which it shares the title. It explores the wide range of expression possible from the combination of trumpet and organ. The music does not attempt to relate the specific series of images of the poembut to capture its mood, at once dark (and even menacing) but shot-through with brilliance. Yet the central image of shadows does have a correlate in the way musical ideas are worked through the texture.