A memorable date in the history of the Festival de Lanaudière, the presentation of the “alpha” of the lyrical repertoire at the Fernand-Lindsay amphitheater by Leonardo García Alarcón and his musicians did more than keep its promises on Saturday.
With Leonardo García Alarcón, we always think we are prepared for the superlative, but what he makes us experience, with the musicians with whom he shares the stage, goes beyond what our poor brains can imagine or conceive a priori.
Define perfection
The most complex thing is to put into words what we have collectively experienced in the presentation of The Orfeo, SATURDAY. “Here’s an article written quickly, you only have to say that it was perfect”, threw me in the form of a joke a spectator. Exactly not, because the feeling of perfection is a mystery in itself, fascinating to solve. Why on Saturday, for example, did we feel the absence of a staging so little, when we were attending an opera?
Because the singers embodied their characters so much that it never occurred to anyone not to believe them. Each and every one being Orpheus, the Messenger, or Hope, the interactions between these characters were theatrically, dramatically, real.
The other element goes beyond the music and finds its source in the elements of deep understanding, some of which were unveiled by Leonardo García Alarcón in The duty SATURDAY. When, at this point, at all times and everywhere, the word finds a musical resonance, an underlining, by a short pause in the case of affliction or an impetus in the case of joy, we find ourselves in a supreme adequacy between the message and the colors taken by this message.
So that everyone understands well, Leonardo García Alarcón accentuates all the contrasts: what is joyful is very lively, even exalted; what is afflicted is truly upsetting. Thus, the end of the first part, from the appearance of the Messenger (Giuseppina Bridelli, of an extraordinary presence and sensitivity) was paralyzing with pain. In these moments, Leonardo García Alarcón does not hesitate to freeze time, while he shows a rare exuberance in pastoral passages.
Pictorial
Even if the image has already been used with regard to Monteverdi, the contrast between the brightness of the happy episodes and the deep blackness of the affliction obviously evokes the pictorial style of Caravaggio. In Act III, Leonardo García Alarcón lets the song of Orfeo burst forth. Possess Spirto “, which aims to soften the guardian of the underworld. Orpheus takes the time to deploy his art, in patient duet with the harp. In concert, we totally understand the duo Leonardo García Alarcón and Valerio Contaldo, whose baritone tenor timbre, which evokes a little Villazon in good shape, goes very well, much better than on record,
The remarkable vocal performances followed one another during the evening: Marianna Flores, from the outset, in Music, with incredible inflections, the very solid tenor Alessandro Giangrande in Pastore, who we found at the end in Apollo taking Orpheus to the heavens, Salvo Vitale in Caronte. Finally, all of them, really, including an infinitely malleable choir (what a palette of nuances!) and an orchestra of a thousand colors whose continuo had been strongly reinforced by the sound system.
As everyone had made the trip, including the choir, we still can’t believe the dream of seeing associates in the space of 48 hours The Orfeo and the Vespers by Monteverdi fainted. We will remind those who have not noticed the cancellation of the great sacred work at the cathedral of Joliette, Monday, in favor of an intimate concert with soprano at the church of Repentigny.