The first visit to Quebec of Sébastien Daucé’s Ensemble Correspondances, more than conclusive, is a shock and a lesson on the way and the means with which one must approach early and baroque music.
One cannot cherish visits such as these and the chance to have concert organizers collaborating with each other enough. The coming to Quebec of the Ensemble Correspondances is the result of the good agreement between the Club musical de Québec and the Bourgie Hall. The ensemble is on a North American tour and will perform in Vancouver and the United States thereafter.
Sébastien Daucé and Correspondances very quickly made a name for themselves in the interpretation of the music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704), attached, therefore, to the reign (1654-1715) of Louis XIV.
The period into which the program “The Pleasures of the Louvre” transported us preceded this period. Louis XIII, son of Henri IV and Marie de Médicis, reigned from 1610 to 1643. The Louvre, enlarged by Henri IV, was then a royal residence. The move from the Louvre to Versailles would not be decided by Louis XIV until the 1680s.
A matter of voice
The concert at Bourgie Hall, which followed a performance in Quebec, made it possible in a few minutes to “put a sound” on the expertise of the Ensemble Correspondances and also pinpointed what we lack.
It’s simple and clear: with Correspondances, this repertoire from the beginning of the 17th century is sung by “real voices”, that is to say soloists who come together and dedicate their art to the celebration of this music. This approach is totally opposed to the opposite one, which consists in promoting modest voices of choristers in small ensembles or, even worse, to see vocal profiles of choristers pushing themselves off the collar and taking themselves for soloists by approaching this vocal “Home Depot” style directory. Much has been given here, in this last discipline, not to mention the expressive and sonorous softness, which is opposed in all the rich sounds and the firm discourse of Correspondences. This is why Wednesday’s concert could have acted as an electric shock, if the right ears were present to listen to it and meditate on it.
Because the means, we have them and train them. The vocal pool has never been so flamboyant in Quebec, but make no mistake, not everyone will sing Mozart or Verdi at the Met. There may be a way to bring together young musicians around a dynamic high-flying project such as Correspondances, Poème Harmonique or Capella Mediterranea.
The subtle music
During their North American tour, the Ensemble Correspondances presents the music of Louis XIII. This music at the Louvre between 1610 and 1643, as summarized by Thomas Leconte in the excellent notice, is marked by the air de cour, which “consisted above all of short settings of gallant and refined poetry […]. Subtle music capable of expressing all the nuances of the amorous empire, the air de cour was one of the emblematic elements of a society where the “honest man” devoted himself to the art of pleasing and ” say well” according to the precious codes of gallant culture. »
After conquering “literate, aristocratic and bourgeois” circles, these tunes entered the King’s entourage. With the musical means of the royal court “the air de cour offered great possibilities of interpretation in combinations that could be adapted at leisure to the circumstances or to the vocal and instrumental forces available. »
Guédron, Boësset and Moulinié, the three pillars, are names with which those who are interested in the repertoire are familiar through the Alpha discs of the great experts in the field, Vincent Dumestre and the Harmonic Poem. To his three remarkable Moulinié monographs — “The Human Comedy”; Guédron — “Le concert des consorts” and Boësset — “I die without dying”, Vincent Dumestre will then add an exploration of works from the end of the 16th century with his disc “Coeur”.
The program of Correspondances mixed airs of court of these composers with instrumental pieces to give a certain breath to the program. This dive into the “before Charpentier” is the subject of a CD “Les Plaisirs du Louvre, Airs pour la chambre de Louis XIII”, published by Harmonia Mundi in 2020.
Better than disc
Some tunes have gained even more flesh and emotional and harmonic tension compared to the disc, such as the sublime masterpiece (in our opinion) “Quelle tormentsrigours” by Pierre Guédron, even more magical in concert, thanks to a flexibility and increased subtlety. Among the other great moments “Black forests, dark residences” by Boësset, highlighting the soprano Perrine Devillers and the bass Renaud Bres, two outstanding voices of the evening; “Rare flowers, living painting” by François de Chancy; Boësset’s backfiring and virtuoso madrigal aria “Segua chi vuol iniquo Amore” and Moulinié’s astonishing “Broken the charms of sleep” which closed the first part and recalled by its light verve, instruments in addition, the style of certain songs by Janequin, a composer who was several decades earlier.
We can’t wait to see this set again maybe at one of our festivals. Because unlike so many others, it came to Quebec, exactly as Christina Pluhar’s Arpeggiata had done in their genre: in its full formation, with its best elements, that is to say respecting us , giving our best and presenting a level and expertise that we neither match nor approach.
A final word to report that next season’s Bourgie Hall program was released on Tuesday. It will be Isolde Lagacé’s last. But the information will not go unnoticed.