On the weekend in Montreal, Les Violons du Roy presented a sold-out program directed by Leonardo García Alarcón entirely dedicated to his compatriot Astor Piazzolla. The meeting was eagerly awaited. It was dazzling, even overwhelming.
Let us take, to grasp the exceptional nature of what happened at Bourgie Hall on Friday evening, the first encore, the famous oblivion, for bandoneon and orchestra. When we are interested in Piazzolla, whose centenary of birth we celebrated in 2021, we know his classics, including the recording of the master himself. Expressing how in another world we were, from the first seconds, is almost impossible.
With Leonardo García Alarcón and the bandoneonist William Sabatier, everything is extremely expressive, but results from the mastery of a sum of infinitesimal parameters: sound tremors, dynamic micro-dosages, rhythmic micro-shifts, a sudden shift in priority from violins to cellos in the orchestral backing, a change in texture in the string accompaniment. In short, anything that can create a slight imbalance, a tilt, before a recovery. In other words, Leonardo García Alarcón, the bandoneonist William Sabatier, the soprano Mariana Florès, the pianist Louise Bessette danced the tango with the music and, in fact, with our emotions.
Lunar escapes
From afar, the concert was a copy of the “Tribute to Piazzolla” given by Radio France to García Alarcón for the composer’s centenary last year. Balada para mi muerte, Balada para un loco, Siempre se vulve a Buenos Aires, Yo soy Maria and the Concerto for bandoneon, “Aconcagua” found themselves in common in the two programs, which also explained the presence, stabilizing for the conductor of his accomplice at the time (and well before, moreover), of the bandoneonist William Sabatier.
If, in principle, it hurt our hearts to see such an appointment missed by our great instrument specialist Denis Plante, in the face of the facts, we could understand Leonardo García Alarcón, for such a repertoire specific, to have wanted to work with lifelong accomplices. We grasped it all the more by living the lunar escapes of William Sabatier in “Aconcagua”. It’s quite indescribable, but there are times, throughout the score, where this musician quite simply goes “elsewhere”, into those other worlds into which Leonardo García Alarcón also likes to take us.
Sabatier’s arrangement of Tangazo was very remarkable, and it is in this work that the conductor began to deploy an infinite palette of colors to go from darkness to tears, and from exaltation to trance.
A skillful song
The only local artist, in addition to the Violins, Louise Bessette gave the reply to Sabatier in a “Double concerto”, originally conceived for guitar and bandoneon, and since transcribed for various instruments. She integrated very well into the group, imprinting the necessary stature where the others left in digressions.
Should we amplify the voice of Mariana Florès? Yes. First, because we’re not at the opera or Carnegie Hall. In other words, it is not necessarily acoustic music. Then, it had to be done in this way, so that the voice remained natural, but that the orchestra and the bandoneon did not have to “not play” in order for the singer to be heard. The remarks on the mediocre sound of Pascal Amoyel’s microphone on Wednesday had perhaps already borne fruit, because the spectral balance and the balance were, this time, irreproachable.
What is admirable in Mariana Florès’ performance, in addition to her strong physical presence, is the perfect balance between the “operatic” voice and the “cabaret” type voice. Some followers of crossoverhere for example, run all their life after this alchemy without ever finding a credible balance.
The concert was also a moment of sharing between the public and the artists, with accurate and very warm comments, in French, by Leonardo García Alarcón, which made us feel part of something special. After oblivionthe musicians gave us the song Chiquilin de Bachin and one Adios Nonino dazzling, ending with a final and unreal sonic pirouette from the incredible William Sabatier.
It was not a concert; it was a privilege.