Académie Provençale des Amis de Stuttgart - Masterpieces and Discoveries - 08/14/24

Eugène Walckiers: String Quintet No. 4 in A Major, Opus 108 

Joseph Haydn: Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major, Hob. VIIb/1 

Bela Bluche: Xiloeta, small suite in trio, for Trumpet, Viola and Bass 

Johannes Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Opus 111 

Bela Bluche: Bass 

Fanton Clerc: Violin 

Johannes Eva: Viola 

Carola Eva-Richter: Violin 

Elisa Garzia: Violin 

Nicolas Hugon: Cello 

Noé Inui: Violin 

Hedy Kerpitchian: Violin 

Simon Lasserre: Trumpet 

Myriam-Elena Siegrist: Cello 

Esther Steinmeier: Cello 

Just like the first concert of my 2024 summer season took place in Bonlieu-sur-Roubion’s Basilique Sainte-Anne, that’s also where I was with my mom last Wednesday evening for what will probably be the last concert of my 2024 summer season. This time, however, the entertainment would be provided by the music students of the Académie Provençale des Amis de Stuttgart (Provençal Academy of Friends of Stuttgart), a mouthful meant to convey the tight friendships among the promising French and German musicians of the APAS, which was created over 30 years ago by Stanislas Bogucz, a violist from the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra who had decided to settle in the nearby village of Roussas with his family after having fallen in love with it. 

According to the academy’s concentrated training, the dozen students had met for the first time and tirelessly rehearsed during the previous week, and then embarked on an intense week-long tour that was taking them to five different towns to present two different programs. I had assumed that their youth all but guaranteed that they could effortlessly handle the grueling schedule, and sure enough, they all appeared in top shape when we and a large group of music lovers caught up with them half-way through their journey. 

On the other hand, the surprise of the evening was that, due to the wildly unpredictable weather that day, the concert location had been moved from the Basilique Sainte-Anne’s beautiful courtyard to its equally beautiful barn, which was a spacious, expertly restored, all-stone music venue. So that’s where we ended up, after a quiet visit to the equally beautiful church that had also been expertly restored, my mom’s typical extreme caution regarding how it would take to get there meaning that we in the end arrived almost an hour early. 

I will readily confess that I had no idea who 19th-century French composer and flutist Eugène Walckiers was before last Wednesday evening, and after having thoroughly enjoyed his String Quintet No. 4 in A Major, I can only wonder how come such a talented artist has been neglected for so long. The work did not break any new ground, or make any kind of noticeable splash for that matter, but it was spontaneously engaging and delightfully melodic, and we all happily took it in. Even better, the acoustics proved to be remarkably good for a building that had been designed to store hay. 

At the opposite end of the recognition spectrum from Walckiers stood our beloved Papa Haydn and his ever-green Cello Concerto No. 1 in C Major, which was in fact the main reason of our presence in Bonlieu-sur-Roubion on a school night. Even if we had heard a terrific performance of the challenging solo part the previous month in Montélimar’s historical collegiate church courtesy of local girl Astrig Siranossian, we were ready, willing and available for another round of it courtesy of Nicolas Hugon, a long-time member of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, in Basilique Sainte-Anne’s slightly less historical barn. 

The young man, who looked like a seasoned veteran among the fresh faces surrounding him, proved to be every bit as satisfying a player as his predecessor in Montélimar, and this was by all accounts a tall order to fill. Proficiently backed by an endearingly small but highly motivated orchestra led by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg’s first violinist Hedy Kerpitchian, his thrilling performance was definitely a master class in itself, full of grandeur and virtuosity, but also warmth and earthiness. 

After a short intermission, we all returned to our seats for endlessly inquisitive Bela Bluche’s Xiloeta, small suite in trio, for Trumpet, Viola and Bass, which was a short piece that had just been composed by a member of the academy for the academy, and as such had its world première on Wednesday evening. As its full name indicates, Xiloeta featured the unusual trio of trumpet, viola and bass, respectively played by Johannes Eva, Simon Lasserre and Bela Bluche, who separately and jointly came up with decidedly intriguing sounds that kept the audience on their feet the entire time. 

Earlier in the month, we had the opportunity to hear the first movement of Brahms’ String Quintet No. 2 in G Major in Le Poët-Laval, which had been a wonderful but ultimately frustrating experience. We wanted it all! Well, it does seem that dream do come true in Drome Provençale in summer, because that’s just what we got on Wednesday night in Bonlieu-sur-Roubion, and it was an even more wonderful experience indeed. Sounding terribly excited to sink their teeth in such a meaty and savory treat, the dynamic ensemble on the stage hit the ground running, occasionally covering the stunning solo cello lines during the first movement in their boundless enthusiasm, and consistently played their hearts out all the way to the Hungarian-flavoured grand finale. Va-va-voom! 

But the party was not over yet, as the entire group came back for an inspired hymn-like party favour, for which they all sat in a semi-circle in the middle of which sat Bela Bluche, who produced some dazzling percussion from what looked like a large dome-shaped drum. An unexpected but memorable ending to a very rewarding season.

Festival Classic au Jazz - Femmes d’esprit, jardins secrets - 08/11/24

Hildegard von Bingen: Canticles of Ecstasy arranged for Violin, Cello and Accordion 

Elizabeth Jacquet de La Guerre: Sonata No. 1 in D Minor for Violin and Cello 

Maria Theresia von Paradis: Sicilienne in E-flat Major 

Sophie Lacaze: Histoire sans paroles (2024 version for Violin, Cello and Accordion) 

Sofia Gubaidulina: Silenzio for Violin, Cello and Accordion 

Pascal Contet: Accordion 

Saskia Lethiec: Violin 

David Lowerse: Cello 

After a short week in Auvergne filled with family bonding via eating, drinking and sight-seeing, not to mention talking, I got back to Dieulefit just in time to attend a concert whose intriguing program titled “Femmes d’esprit, jardins secrets” (Spirited women, secret gardens) included remarkable women composers from the 12th to the 21st century, as part of the three-day Festival Classic au Jazz, which for the seventh year in a row had been organized by the intrepid Pradel Association and its fearless leader Pascaline Dallemagne, in nearby Le Poët-Laval. 

Although I was disappointed that the performance would not take place in the sidehill village’s small stone amphitheater with the panoramic view, I was excited at the thought of enjoying women-celebrating music under the stars in the small courtyard in front of the castle, a location which would be used for the first time on Sunday evening—at the ungodly but admittedly cooler time of 9:00 PM—by the still young but fast-growing festival. I was in fact so much looking forward to it that I had even decided to temporarily put aside my natural dislike of accordion music for the occasion. 

My mom and I briefly worried about the size of the audience when we noticed that the nearby parking lot was not as packed as usual, but the courtyard eventually filled up with a sizable group of about 50 music lovers, which unsurprisingly included quite a few regulars. And while the event logistics was still a work-in-progress, with missing music stands and insufficient light for the cello’s sheet music (violin and accordion having joined the digital age), not to mention cooing pigeons and chirping crickets, everything eventually fell into place at about 9:15 PM (Not that I was counting or anything). 

At that point, we quickly discovered that the program, which was further described as “An ode to women’s vitality and creativity”, had been concocted by, low and behold, a man, an enlightened one, obviously, who turned out to be prominent accordionist Pascal Contet, who was also the new musician on the block on Sunday evening, violinist Saskia Lethiec and cellist David Lowerse being familiar faces in and around the area in summer. And he forever endeared himself to us throughout the concert, first with his superior musicianship, and then with countless insights into the composers, the works, and the fascinating history of the accordion. 

He was also the one who kicked things off with a digital recording of 12th-century German composer and philosopher Hildegard von Bingen’s Canticles of Ecstasy, which was progressively joined first by the accordion, and later by the strings just as the darkness of the night was falling upon us. Although I generally do not see the point of having recorded music during live concerts, I’ll be the first to admit that the ethereal beauty of the taped medieval chants subtly enhanced by the live instruments created an experience that was as unique as it was memorable. 

We then fast-forwarded about five centuries, and turned our undivided attention to Elizabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, one of the very few highly esteemed women musicians and composers during the reign of Louis XV. Of course, being born in a musical family and marrying an organist did not hurt, but being a child prodigy-turned-pioneer is not always all it’s cracked up to be, and even a veteran such as Lowerse admitted that neither he nor Lethiec had ever heard of her. That did not stop them for delivering a brilliant performance of her genuinely attractive Sonata No. 1 in D Minor for Violin and Continuo that had been adapted for the cello. 

About a century later, Viennese native Maria Theresia von Paradis made a name for herself as musician, singer, composer, as well as music school founder and teacher. Although she went blind at a very young age, that did not stop her from learning from Salieri, palling around with Mozart, successfully touring Europe, and contributing to the creation of the braille writing system. Her most famous work, Sicilienne, may or may not have been composed by her, but regardless of its origins, we all relished the piece’s wonderfully Schubertian quality, even if we heard a partially compromised version of it, the wind having decided to wreak awoke upon Lowerse’s carefully organized score for a few agonizing seconds. 

After having jumped forward two more centuries, we arrived in our modern era with French composer and teacher Sophie Lacaze. A friend and colleague of Contet’s, she did not hesitate to write a new version of her Histoire sans paroles for Violin, Cello and Piano that allows the accordion to take over the piano’s part. Originally written for the Australian Association, the score boasts the uncanny ability to transport its audience straight to the Land Down Under with an engagingly tribal first movement followed by an eerily dreamy second one (Desert mirages, anyone?). And that’s just what happened on Sunday night, with a little help from Lowerse’s wife too, who found herself working not as a page-turner, but as a page-holder, for her husband for a little while. 

We remained in the present time with Silenzio for Violin, Cello and Accordion by superstar Soviet-Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina, who is still going strong at the wise age of 92. A born out-spoken experimenter, which means that Dmitri Shostakovich was a big fan, and the Soviet government not so much, she possibly owes her life to Contet’s accordion teacher, who decades ago helped get a literally starving Gubaidulina out of Russia and into Germany, where she still lives. Her convoluted life clearly never hampered her adventurous spirit though, and on Sunday evening, her resolutely dense and intimate Silenzio captivated us with its endless exploration of the ever-elusive border between sound and silence. As they say, the journey is indeed the reward. 

We got to the end of the original program in just over an hour (I swear I was not counting), and after a hearty round of applause, the trio decided to treat us to an encore to which, let’s face it, we were totally entitled. And that’s how we got to groove to von Paradis’ delightful Sicilienne one more time, without the momentary disappearance of the cello this time. Even better, this thoroughly terrific concert reconciled me with accordion music, as long as it does not include any of that oh so grating popular French music that is.

Comps Historique - E il piano va - All-Brahms - 08/02/24

Johannes Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor, Opus 5 

Johannes Brahms: Three intermezzi, Opus 117 

Sylvie Sagot-Duvauroux: Piano 

Last week, after two late school nights on Monday and Tuesday, I took the not only prudent but necessary steps to go back to a more reasonable bedtime schedule on Wednesday and Thursday, so that on Friday I would be back in decent shape to attend yet another one of the countless concerts going on around Dieulefit, in this case the piano recital by Sylvie Sagot-Duvauroux in nearby Comps’ small but eye-popping église Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul (Church of Saint-Peter and Saint-Paul). 

The 12th-century Romanesque church has in fact earned the “Historic Monument” label because of its significance to France’s historical and cultural heritage, the exhaustive restoration it underwent a while ago having further brought out its elegant architecture and a few unique details. Add to that its priceless setting on top of a hill and surrounded by some of Drôme Provençale’s most bucolic countryside, and you have a landmark worthy of a detour, even a guided tour, with or without the occasional musical bonus. 

The bonus was included last Friday evening though, at the blessed hour of 6:00 PM, with intrepid pianist Sylvie Sagot-Duvauroux, brought to us by the indefatigable Comps Historique association. Since founding the E il piano va company about two decades ago, Sagot-Duvauroux has tirelessly taken her “migratory” 1928 Bechstein quarter grand piano to the most unlikely places, including prisons, hospitals and Emmaüs communities, to spread the word about the joys of live music to frequently uninitiated crowds. 

On Friday, it certainly looked like her advocacy work was cut out for her as the church quickly filled up to capacity and then some with eager music lovers, including a few familiar faces, who had come from far and wide, and very early for some of them. Fact is, the first come, first served and pay-what-you-can rules that were enforced for the occasion often prove to be strong incentives for people to show up in order to take advantage of a good bargain and a good seat. And sure enough, they all came. 

The advertised program included Chopin and Brahms, but once we had sat down and checked the leaflet, my mom and I gathered that it would be an all-Brahms feast, and I for one was not the least disappointed (No offense to Chopin). The first piece on the program was the Piano Sonata No. 3 in F Minor he wrote at the young age of 20, still under the mighty influence of Beethoven. It is a stupendously sprawling five-movement score that relies on classical structure while also exuding free-flowing romanticism; it also incidentally turned him into a bona fide star. 

Brahms’ biggest solo piano work, and last piano sonata, is epic, bold, and overflowing with myriad ideas and sounds, in which one can easily detect the effervescence of the promising youth and the depth of the born perfectionist. On Friday, as soon as Sagot-Duvauroux started to play after her short introduction, we realized that we were in for a treat, and that the treat would be resonating in our ears for quite some time considering our proximity to the piano. That said, once we had decided to make the most of it by surrendering to the immersive aspect of the experience, the rest was magic. 

After having received a well-deserved ovation and imparted another enlightening introduction, Sagot-Duvauroux turned her attention to a smaller but no less exciting composition by a mature Brahms this time, with his Three intermezzi, Opus 117. As contemplative as the piano sonata had been lively, these three “lullabies for his sorrows” were all composed with his dear Clara Schumann in mind, and still stand as poignant testimonies of their nearly forty years of love and friendship. 

Staunchly respectful of the triptych’s musical quality and personal context, Sagot-Duvauroux delivered a dainty performance that subtly emphasized each piece’s delicate lyricism and haunting darkness, exquisitely evoking passing time and looming twilight, and maybe a few regrets. Who would have thought grumpy old Brahms was partial to so much introspection? It is a tough order to bring a large audience packed in a small space to complete silence, but that’s just what happened on that evening in the little church on the little hill. 

As the audience exploded in vigorous applause and maintained it, Sagot-Duvauroux eventually came back with, not Brahms, which might have been too predictable, but a classic among classics of the Baroque repertoire, a piano version of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Air on a G String. A memorable parting gift for a memorable concert, so much so that afterwards Sagot-Duvauroux herself gently pointed out that nothing more could be played no matter how insistent we were. And rightly so.

Les musicales du Poët-Laval - Nathanaël Gouin - Rachmaninoff & Mussorgsky - 07/30/24

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Isle of the Dead (Transcription by Nathanaël Gouin) 

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Études-Tableaux, Op. 33 (Études 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9) 

Modest Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition 

Nathanaël Gouin: Piano 

Last Monday evening, at the end of the terrific first concert of Les musicales du Poët-Laval (The Musical Events of Le Poët-Laval), its founder and director Stéphanie Réthoré had strongly encouraged us to come back the following evening to hear Nathanaël Gouin again, and by himself this time, in a program that had to remain top secret within 100 km of La Roque d’Anthéron where he would play on Wednesday as part of its prestigious piano festival. I guess you know you have arrived when your contract has become overly finicky. 

But Réthoré had not been able to keep the secret, and Le Poët-Laval was beyond the limit anyway, not to mention that we would have showed up regardless of the playlist, my mom having become one of his biggest fans. So, we had bought our tickets early for what in the end was essentially the final rehearsal before La Roque d’Anthéron for this young and already much in-demand pianist, composer and teacher, who had made an excellent impression just 24 hours before. 

Additionally, having learned their lesson the hard way the previous evening, the event’s organizers had thankfully turned on the AC before our arrival in the Centre d’Art Contemporain Roche Colombe, and we were therefore able to come in and get settled in an acceptably cool space. In fact, the considerably more comfortable environment turned out to be a real blessing as the concert started almost 15 minutes late due to unstoppable waves of newcomers and a last-minute scramble to find extra seats. 

Unlike most opening numbers, which tend to be short and sweet, Gouin’s own transcription of Rachmaninoff’ Isle of the Dead was anything but. Inspired by a black and white version of Arnold Böcklin’s painting Isle of the Dead, the symphonic poem is unforgivingly dark and haunting. Having experienced unexpected and heart-breaking loss a decade ago, Gouin could probably relate all too well to the work’s delicate yet intense lyricism, and the eventual acceptance of grief and mourning. No doubt this was an unusually heavy, but also brave and impactful, way to get things going on an otherwise delightful summer night. 

Then we thankfully moved on to some of Rachmaninoff’s lighter fare with a handful of his Études-Tableaux, which Gouin had carefully picked and superbly played. Whether the vignette’s source of inspiration was a scene or an atmosphere, the score made sure to describe it with finesse and vivaciousness. During his introduction, the soft-spoken and engaging Gouin had deemed Rachmaninoff the greatest pianist ever, and this level of appreciation and kinship was certainly palpable in his deeply committed performance. 

Without an intermission, but after another insightful introduction, Gouin tackled Mussorgsky’s ever-popular Pictures at an Exhibition next, after having noticed that performing it in an art center filled with, well, pictures being exhibited had not been planned, but was clearly most appropriate. And while everybody stayed firmly put on their seats, we still thoroughly enjoyed Mussorgsky’s musical stroll through the exhibition of 10 works by Viktor Hartmann, a talented architect and visual artist who was friend with Mussorgsky and met an untimely death at only 39 years of age. 

Written within the year following the tragedy, the piano suite made of ten movements interspersed by the recurring and ever-changing promenade theme has undergone various orchestrations since then, the most famous probably being Ravel’s boldly colourful version, but to my ears, the power of the original is unmatched. And it sure sounded that way on Tuesday evening, as the pictures came wonderfully alive during Gouin’s superbly virtuosic without being unnecessarily flashy performance. 

The concert was a big success, and I was wondering what Gouin had in store for us for the highly anticipated encore, and especially if it would also come from the Russian repertoire. Well, not even close. As a special nod to the Olympic Games going on in Paris and to French culture in general, he concluded our enchanted evening with a dynamite take on Edith Piaf’s already infectious “Padam, padam…”, to which he managed to bring a brand new and oh so exciting flavor. Let’s face it, this young man has it all.

Les musicales du Poët-Laval - Mozart, Brahms, Halvorsen & Chausson - Trio Jacob and Friends - 07/29/24

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quintet No. 4 in G Minor, K. 516 (First movement) 

Johannes Brahms: String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111 (First movement) 

Johan Halvorsen: Passacaglia for Violin and Viola 

Ernest Chausson: Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 21 

Charlotte Chahuneau: Violin 

Nathanaël Gouin: Piano 

Florian Holbé: Violin 

Raphaël Jacob: Violin 

Sarah Jacob: Cello 

Jérémy Pasquier: Viola 

Stéphanie Réthoré: Viola 

The Journées Musicales de Dieulefit and the Festival Mozart having come to an end for this year, the time had come to move on and indulge in new musical revelries, and fortunately enough, that’s just when Les musicales du Poët-Laval (The Musical Events of Le Poët-Laval) happened to be scheduled, as if to seamlessly take over fulfilling local music lovers’ insatiable needs with two exciting evenings for the 10th summer in a row. 

Therefore, last Monday evening, after a quiet and restorative weekend, my mom and I went to the nearby medieval hillside village of Le Poët-Laval, a rightful member of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The most beautiful villages of France) association, whose miniature size is home to an impressively high number of historical and cultural treasures, from its predominant castle that regularly doubles as an exhibit space to various restaurants, boutiques and art galleries. 

And it was in fact in one of those, the Centre d’Art Contemporain Roche Colombe to be exact, that our next musical event was going to take place. The smallish but smartly designed three-level center boasts a cute outdoors theater with a panoramic view, an amazing modern Italian-made spiral staircase, and a tastefully eclectic and acoustically satisfactory performance space complete with its own majestic Steinway piano on the lower level. 

And all we had to do to get there was to complete the near-impossible mission consisting in finding an elusive spot in the parking lot packed with out-of-town license plates, and then venture down perilous cobbled pathways and stairs to find ourselves in the eventually packed and increasingly stuffy (I am talking about the air, not the people) room, where we were happy to bump into a couple of familiar faces from Dieulefit. 

Before the official program got underway, Stéphanie Réthoré, the founder and director of Les musicales du Poët-Laval, introduced the concert, and then surprised us with a heart-warming little treat that entailed cellist Sarah Jacob, one member of Trio Jacob, and her two young children performing one of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Five Pieces with laudable talent and dedication, assertively proving there might be a positive side to nepo babies after all. 

And then we kicked off the expected play list, starting with the first movement of Mozart’s String Quintet No. 4 in G Minor, one of his popular “viola quintets”, which pretty soon filled the entire space with beautiful melancholy. There is no doubt that having two violas stimulated Mozart’s creative juices even more than usual, and on Monday evening we all benefitted from the end result as we were basking in a remarkably wide range of sounds. When the too often neglected violas are played by experts such as Stéphanie Réthoré, a decidedly multi-talented woman, and Jérémy Pasquier, another member of Trio Jacob, the outcome could only be memorable, and it was. 

After Mozart’s elegant classicism, we were ready to indulge in lush romanticism with the first movement of Brahms’ String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, which was incidentally supposed to be his swan song but in the end was not. As unequivocally exhilarating and gorgeously melodic as could be hoped from a composer at the top of his game and musicians in full command of their craft, this Allegro non troppo, ma con brio reached for the sky, and effortlessly got there to stay. 

The sweltering heat and humidity becoming slowly but surely problematic for the audience, the musicians and, maybe even most importantly, the instruments, we took a very short break, and then turned our undivided attention to Norwegian composer, conductor, violinist and teacher Johan Halvorsen and his terrific extrapolation of Handel’s Passacaglia with violinist Florian Holbé and violist Jérémy Pasquier, whose blazingly virtuosic performance of it made us all temporarily forget our less than ideal environment and just marvel at their extraordinary tour de force. 

After having cooled off during the official intermission, at which point the AC was finally turned on, we all gathered together again for the program’s main piece, Chausson’s boldly rhapsodic Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet in D Minor, an ambitious hybrid of concerto and chamber music full of inventiveness, grandeur and introspection, some brilliant interplay between the instruments, and a healthy dose of intense lyricism that would have made Brahms proud. 

On Monday evening, it did not take us long to notice that while violin and piano are equal partners on paper, the former was by all accounts physically and musically center stage, its gorgeous soaring lines frequently underlined by intricate arpeggios from unassuming piano rising star Nathanaël Gouin, who was almost unnoticeable, but certainly not unnoticed, behind the fired-up string ensemble. That said, when the violin is played by Raphaël Jacob, the last but not least member of Trio Jacob and Sarah’s brother, all one can do is shut up and enjoy it until the very last note. And that’s just what we did. 

Although the ovation was huge, the mild but nevertheless better-than-nothing AC having done wonders for everybody’s energy level, there was no encore, probably because the hour was getting late, the air was still uncomfortably sticky, and we had gotten an unexpected little extra at the beginning of the concert. 

Stéphanie Réthoré appeared on the stage again though, first to invite us to come back on Tuesday for a recital by the very same Nathanaël Gouin we had just heard, and also to let us know that the art center being for sale, this year may be the last year of Les musicales du Poët-Laval. So it was with fingers solidly crossed for a better denouement on one hand and a steady flash light turned on to show us the way in the other hand that we negotiated the even more perilous cobbled pathways and stairs in the now pitch dark village.