Saturday, at Bourgie Hall, Alexandre Tharaud made his first visit to his favorite city, Montreal, since the pandemic. He was accompanied by his faithful accomplice, cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras. The duo fully delivered, in a fervent and fiery concert.
The program chosen by the duettists could surprise: Schubert, Poulenc and… Marin Marais. The proposal to transcribe Marais’s viol pieces on cello and piano has just been attempted by Tharaud and Queyras on record at Harmonia Mundi, and with success.
The concert begins with a very strong sound presence, a comical and eloquent element, the day of the publication in The duty an interview with the artistic director of the Baroque Music Center of Versailles, Benoît Dratwicki, pleading for a more “measurable” French Baroque in terms of sound.
Expressive palette
As in the record, the irresistible moment of Following taken from 3e Book of viol pieces is the Musette (track 3 on the disc). Here it follows a magnificent Sarabande, which, by contrasting ambiance, enhances its effect.
After having started powerfully, as if to calibrate their dynamic ambition within the framework of the room, Alexandre Tharaud and Jean-Guihen Queyras navigate through the dances of Marais by assaulting subtleties and never neglecting the character of the dances. Their entire palette is displayed, in the end, in the Verses from the Folies d’Espagne. This collection of 32 variations around the famous theme of The Madnesslasting almost 20 minutes, is moreover made to expose the expressive possibilities of the viol (at the time) and, therefore, of the tandem today.
Alexandre Tharaud and Jean-Guihen Queyras preserved this jubilant spirit throughout the evening, right up to the encores, a Allegretto from a Divertimento of Haydn transposed by Gregor Piatigorsky and the 1D Hungarian dance of Brahms, transcribed by them.
The second half of the concert included another transcription, that of the Sonatine D. 384 for violin and piano by Schubert. Here, Schubert is still indebted to the Viennese spirit reigning in Mozart. One could fear that the transposition to a lower instrument would weigh down the work, but the performers did everything to play it in a spirit of impulsiveness and a light tone, linking on a Sonata very articulated Poulenc with a very intense Cavatina (superb end with the cello fitted with a mute) and a lively thematic exchange between the protagonists.
Playful concert, happy, of a contagious happiness.