Saturday, July 20, 2024

Journées Musicales de Dieulefit - All-Schubert - 07/17/24

Franz Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A Minor, D. 821 
Franz Schubert: Trio No. 1 in B-Flat Major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, D. 898 (Opus 99) 
François Daudet: Piano 
David Louwerse: Cello 
Virginie Robilliard: Violin 

After having gone to relatively great geographical lengths to attend totally worthy live music experiences lately, this week we’ve stayed for the most part put in Dieulefit itself, where the 20th anniversary of the Journées musicales de Dieulefit (Musical Days of Dieulefit) as well as the closing performance of the Saoû Chante Mozart (Saoû Sings Mozart) festival will keep classical music lovers busy. So much music, so little time (sigh). 
Therefore, on Wednesday evening, after a five-hour round-trip to Lyon in the afternoon to bring our friend Vittorio to the Saint-Exupery Airport, and a quick stop at home for a quick bite and a quick rest, we went to the attractive Église Saint-Pierre in downtown Dieulefit, where the Association Chemins de Pierre was kicking off the first leg of a two-day Schubert marathon courtesy of the highly popular usual suspects. That was actually one of those few occasions where I am actually grateful for the otherwise ungodly starting time of 9:00 PM. 

The performance started with Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata, a rather unique effort as it has remained the only substantial work originally composed for the arpeggione (essentially a guitar with a curved bridge similar to the bass viola da gamba), one year after its invention. The new instrument having never gained much traction among musicians, it is now routinely replaced by the cello, and occasionally the viola or the guitar. 
On Wednesday evening, we were all particularly grateful that the cello took over the arpeggione as it gave us the opportunity to hear cellist extraordinaire David Louwerse brilliantly nail the sonata-provided star turn, with a little help from his long-time buddy, outstanding pianist in his own right and the Journées musicales’ intrepid music director François Daudet. In the end, it felt just like overhearing an intimate conversation filled with poignant stories and a few moments of passionate eloquence between two close friends, and not being able to step away. 
They say that no woman should ever come between two male friends, and that may very well be true in general, but in the context of the Journées musicales de Dieulefit, a program featuring Daudet and Louwerse is not really complete without the presence of prodigious violinist Virginie Robilliard, who clearly proved this point again on Wednesday evening by fitting in effortlessly between the two guys for Schubert’s superb Trio Opus 99, which incidentally seemed kind of a logical step back after their memorable performance of the Opus 100 last year. 
The Allegro moderato was lively and engaging, instantly confirming that their long-standing chemistry was still operating seamlessly, while the Andante un poco mosso readily stood out with its soaring lyricism from violin and cello, and bright piano accompaniment. The Scherzo exuded happy-go-lucky cheerfulness galore, before the Finale wrapped up the virtuosic tour de force with a dynamite bouquet of fireworks. So good to see (and hear) them again. 

As for the encore, we moved away from the present and back to last year with the slow movement of Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Trio No. 1, which Daudet dedicated not only to Menahem Pressler, his late beloved teacher, but also to two huge local forces when it came to the Journées musicales de Dieulefit, namely Sonia Morin, their founder, and her husband Jean Morin, their honorary president, who both left us recently, and who must have been smiling from wherever they are now.

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