The current trends in historically informed performance show great diversity, as evidenced by the three concerts of this thirteenth edition. Over the generations, the level of excellence of the performers reaches new heights, while the finesse of the analysis of the proposed interpretations leads us towards new horizons where joys and surprises intertwine in a surprising kaleidoscope where time will undoubtedly take its toll. The great masters remain proud of their accomplished conceptions, while the younger ones dare to explore new paths that disrupt habits, where other performers open doors to unknown repertoires. These three tendencies can be found in the three concerts of this Easter week.
Savall celebrates the Passion with Haydn and Beethoven
It all starts with a great master: at 84 years old, Jordi Savall could hold a commanding role, but he prefers to remain a pure product of the Enlightenment. Over the years, he has forged an image of reference made of clarity, commitment, and precision that he applies consistently to all repertoires. A sense of grandeur served by a fluidity of discourse delicately shapes the instrumental rendering while imbuing it with a coherent but controlled energy and giving the sung parts their true relevance. With varied results depending on the music approached.
This was the case on Wednesday evening with pages from Beethoven and Haydn, recounting the events of the Passion in chronological order: the Mount of Olives for the first, Golgotha for the second. When he wrote his oratorio “Christ on the Mount of Olives” in 1801 (first performed two years later), Beethoven had been established and recognized in Vienna for 9 years (his first symphony had just been performed). He had already composed occasional cantatas in his youth in Bonn, but this was the first time he tackled a major work. He did it with a certain naivety and, above all, an evident dramatic sense that implies an almost theatrical commitment from the soloists, and especially from a Christ that already evokes Florestan from “Fidelio.” Savall places the work in a very 18th-century spirit and thus, by exposing it, reveals a bit too much of its anecdotal aspects which are smoothed over by more troubled interpretations like the one by Barenboim on record.
But it’s Beethoven and not the conductor who is responsible for this gap here. This is fully realized in the sublime “Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross,” whose choral version Savall offers us (and it’s a real gift). Rarely performed, this piece for four solo voices, mixed choir, and orchestra, arranged in 1795/6 from the original 1786 orchestral work, imposes a feeling of grandeur that penetrates to the heart of the Passion tragedy. The radical rigor in setting up the orchestral corpus is matched by the majestic clarity of the choir, which intensely experiences a true drama, built on each of Christ’s words. The harmony between voices and instruments then reaches peaks of balance that fascinate and move. It’s safe to say that the formidable Capella Nacional de Catalunya and the Concert des Nations, two of Savall’s close ensembles, cover themselves in glory here, transcended by the inspired baton of their conductor.
The pleasure of chamber music
The young generation of musicians, on the other hand, has a marked interest in chamber music. With instrumentalists who are not afraid to delve into libraries in search of new treasures. This is the case of violinist Sophie de Bardonnèche, who dedicates her recital to only female composers and has gathered a swarm of works by relatively unknown female composers around the famous and excellent Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, the preferred chamber musician of Louis XIV. Alongside the admirable gambist Lucile Boulanger (with a rich tone of sound!) and the very attentive harpsichordist Florian Carré, replacing the sick Justin Taylor, Sophie de Bardonnèche invites us to journey in good company through a repertoire as varied as it is appealing, which can also be found on their very fine CD “Destinées” on Alpha.
An electrifying St. John Passion
Thirteenth edition of the Easter Festival, thirteenth Bach Passion on Good Friday. In the biennial alternating cycle, it was the turn of the St. John Passion, and once again, we are surprised. The festival’s programming excels in presenting us with a new vision of these deeply respectable yet always surprising works each year. This “St. John,” Raphaël Pichon has just offered us on recording (harmonia mundi) with a dazzling wealth of details that delights like a perfect diamond but does not surprise us. The opposite of what Camille Delaforge and her ensemble Il Caravaggio offer in Aix. An orchestra ablaze with rare discipline, obeying the multiple demands of the conductor second by second, a flexible and muscular Accentus choir, fully invested in a torrential dramatic movement, an electrifying Evangelist (Cyrille Dubois radiating in this (almost) new role), embodying the worst agonies of the narrative with committed characterization, vocal soloists who impress (solemn dignity of Guilhem Worms’ Christ, nobility of Mathieu Gourlet’s Pilate, and a miraculous Marie-Nicole Lemieux in her “Es ist vollbracht,” or choir members in supporting roles): everything is united, concentrated with a frenetic energy under the energetic baton of Camille Delaforge. The result: an execution of rare intensity where the work recovers its theatricality with an almost expressionist force. We succumb to this enthusiastic outpouring without taking the time to be truly moved. We lose a bit of spirituality but gain dynamism. For example, the chorales manifest a militant will, and the orchestra constructs a harsh and gripping discourse. A completely different world is presented to us that, in a way, corresponds more than usual to the dramatic dimension of the “St. John”. In the concert hall, the surprise is real: judgment will be made in detail on the recording since this version should be recorded by Alpha.
Aix-en-Provence, Easter Festival, April 1, 2, and 3.
Photo credits: Photo Caroline Doutre / Easter Festival. Captions: Savall embodies the spirit of the Enlightenment in Haydn’s oratorio and Marie-Nicole Lemieux and Camille Delaforge in “Es ist vollbracht”: a huge emotional moment.
