The first appearance of Emiliano Gonzalez Toro with his ensemble I Gemelli and his friend, colleague and tenor accomplice Zachary Wilder was eagerly awaited. She fulfilled all her promises.
From what we knew about Emiliano Gonzalez Toro through his records, we expected to discover “in real life” a sort of Leonardo García Alarcón who sings. And that’s exactly what we had Wednesday evening at the Bourgie Hall: a generous, inventive artist, who lifts his musicians, leads them to surpass themselves, and opens up unsuspected perspectives for the public.
The program “The Room of Mirrors”, on twinhood, goes beyond what the artist was able to tell us in the recent DMag. The mirrors are numerous and affect the repertoire, the voices and the instruments. The repertoire revolves around Monteverdi without ever directly touching on Monteverdi. The voices are those of tenors of Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, more baritone, and Zachary Wilder, more luminous. But this difference in typology does not prevent Gonzalez Toro from playing with colors, for example at the end of the second encore, where he passes over his friend, almost in head voice.
Surprises
The surprise of the concert comes from the subtlety of the concept at the instrumental level: associations of viol and cello (admirable experience in an instrumental version of Language al vostro languish ; harpsichord and organ; archlute, theorbo and harp. Even in the way of making the two violins sing in the Sonata quarta by Dario Castello, we feel this opposition/complementarity.
Throughout the evening, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro was an enlightening guide, presenting the various stages of the musical journey, many joys to be found. The first is instrumental, with a captivating sound quality of the whole, for example in the Folia by Falconieri, but also solos of admirable accuracy and finesse: violins, viol and cello in their duets, harp at all times, baroque guitar in introduction to the Folia. The second is obviously the intelligence of the program, several pieces tracing Monteverdian equivalents.
The magical moments of the program are Damigella Tutta bella by Calestani sung in duet, Piangono al Pianger mio by Sigismondo d’India, performed subtly by Zachary Wilder, the Dialogue of the rosewith its infinitesimal nuances against a background of harp and archlute and the final chaconne of Annibale Gregori.
“The Chamber of Mirrors” also contains a major lesson for those who did not yet know it: the importance of Sigismondo of India (1582-1629) in the Monteverdian galaxy. It is no coincidence that his works form a common thread throughout such a program and constitute several peaks.
Obviously Gonzalez Toro and his accomplices are welcome as soon as they return to our region.