After performing at the Club Musical de Québec the day before, Jupiter, a French ensemble led by the marvelous lutenist Thomas Dunford, gave its first concert in Montreal in the company of Lea Desandre, the mezzo-soprano who is often associated with it. The program was promising, since the Vivaldi course had already been the subject of a remarkable disc published in 2020 and praised everywhere, including in The duty.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a Vivaldi album so intense and full of sounds. Lea Desandre’s youthful mezzo voice, not too heavy or brassy, leaves room for both group energy and transparency. But it is above all the fruity hues, never tense or aggressive, of the instrumentalists that seduce at all times. This had been our commentary on the disc and this is what we hear at the concert, with even greater tremors.
Transparency goes without saying with one instrument per desk. What remains is a question of balance, and as the instrumentalists are seven accomplices on stage, they exchange easily: the cello which dialogues with the lute in the Final of Concerto RV 93the two violins which offer themselves infinitesimal nuances, leading to the harpsichord in the air “ Wave chiare che sussurrate », the strange sonorities as if distorted by the cold of the Concerto “Winter”.
Bright highs
The “too heavy and brassy point” side of Lea Desandre’s voice is a fact and a characteristic that has both qualities and limits. The singer’s technique amazes in the air of Judith ” Armatae face and anguibus “or in the air” Gelosia, you gia returned the alma mia “. Moreover, for a mezzo, the treble is surprisingly bright (” Wave chiare che sussurrate “, truly admirable). But, as in the group’s and singer’s recent Händel record (Erato), the vocal copper is lacking in the wrathful tunes demanding more low-mids, as in the ” Scenderò, volò, griderò », where we will listen in comparison Vivica Genaux with Fabio Biondi. Likewise, in ” Gelido in ogni vena “, the singer, despite a remarkable performance, could not forget the paralyzing version of Valer Sabadus at the Bach Festival 2021.
On the other hand, what we are not likely to forget is the incredible interpretation of the Concerto for lute RV 93, a series of magical escapades by Thomas Dunford, so much so that we could not guess what nuance, what ornament, what phrasing awaited us. In the two lute concertos, Dunford creates a musical bridge with an inventive solo between the 1st and 2nd movements, the heart of the work.
Very effective too ” Winter “ of the Four Seasonseloquent and yet never overplayed, unlike cellist Bruno Philippe who, like his evening, did tons in the Cello Concerto RV 416including clicking your heels.
We do not know how he usually behaves, but he is sure that his day had not been ordinary, since we learned, in France, that he had filed a complaint against his teacher at the National Conservatory of Paris, Jérôme Pernoo , tried in May for sexual assault on a minor and sexual harassment. Bruno Philippe’s complaint now joins two others, but as he had initially defended Pernoo, stating in a Mediapart article “there has never been this kind of abuse”, his day on the social networks has not been easy. He may have needed, on Wednesday night, to “bring out the bad guy”, which is quite understandable. In any case, the public liked his ” show and gave him a warm ovation.
The ensemble, during its encore (a jazzy lullaby), took the opposite view of its baroque program, showing its open-mindedness and its flexibility.