Sunday in Quebec and Monday in Montreal, Jordi Savall returns to us with Hespèrion XXI and the singers of La Capella Reial de Catalunya in a Monteverdi program entitled “The tears and the fire of the muses”. This concert is part of the 50e anniversary of Hespèrion XXI, founded in 1974.
“Let us never forget that tears can be of sadness, but also of joy,” says Jordi Savall before leaving us at the end of our interview. If the Catalan musician returned to Monteverdi, it is through a musical journey that reminds us of that, in 2016, of Bernard Labadie after the illness which almost took his life.
“After the pandemic, it was not difficult to get back into the swing of things, because there was a lot of joy, but I realized that at my age I wanted to be more selective in my programs and the music that I wanted to tackle. I particularly wanted to program works that I could explain, like here, explain what the Monteverdi revolution is, what the style is recitar cantando (say while singing), what Monteverdi’s way of expressing drama, sorrow and joy brings and how this music was adopted by instrumentalists as a new musical language. With these targeted programs, we illustrate essential changes in music history. »
Jordi Savall’s intention is therefore to “show that Monteverdi is one of the greatest composers of all eras”. “Monteverdi is modern because he invents a language. It is a classic, because its inventions become models. He is also an impressionist, because he plays with colors and tones. »
Revolutionary
Jordi Savall summarizes the Monteverdian revolution as follows: “Monteverdi places emphasis on the expression of the sung word. The idea of putting words before music through recitar cantando highlights all the emotions of an actor singing. That’s new. I’m not saying that, in earlier music, there was no emotion, but it is a more aesthetic, more abstract emotion. »
“If you take the Lament of Arianna, never before had the misfortune of this abandoned woman been illustrated in this way. Monteverdi makes us experience all the colors of our emotions: we go from sadness to rage with a few words, a few dissonances, some rhythms. It is a painting of emotions: “Lasciatemi morire!” is an exclamation that becomes dissonant with harmony. »
Tears are present in the program with the famous Arianna’s lament and the madrigal Lagrime d’amante al sepolcro dell’amata. “At the same time, I put The Tears of the Muses of Holborne, who is a fellow, and Paduan & Dolorosa Current by Scheidt, inspirations on these modes of expressiveness with a quintet of viols which counterbalances the quintet of voices. »
In the second part, there will be a change of mood, with more joyful pieces, such as the madrigal concertante Who laughs, o Tirsi and the “ ball concertato » Tirsi e clori. Lachrimae from Dowland or The Barcha of Love will serve as instrumental counterpoints.
About ten years passed between the founding of Hespèrion, in 1974, and the dive into Monteverdi, where Jordi Savall made his name. “We had to find singers, and my first contact was with the Madrigals warriors and lovers. The first climactic moments were the Vespers in 1987 and The Orfeo in 1993 at the Liceu in Barcelona. »
What is also evolving now is the expertise of the singers. “I come to Quebec with a team of four Italians and a Catalan, people who sing opera and have worked with me for at least five years. Their experience allows me a freer, more refined, more lively execution. They allow me to take more risks and be more expressive. »
European paradox
In his other current projects which go to the essential, according to his post-pandemic criteria, there is “a second part to the “Slavery Routes” project, Caribbean music with musicians from the Cuba area , Haiti, Guadeloupe, Colombia”. Jordi Savall also resurrected the character of Erasmus from his magnificent 2012 project Erasmus. Praise of madness.
This time, it is a “program on Erasmus and the place of peace in the face of wars in the world. It’s very current, with music from Erasmus’ time: battles, complaints, music for peace and war. I try to make programs that explain history, that tell something.”
The emblem is obvious, because “Erasmus+” is the name of the European Union program intended to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe, with a budget of approximately 40 billion Canadian dollars. We then necessarily ask the musician how Europe contributes to the educational and cultural edification mission that he spreads throughout Europe and the world.
“We have been supported over the last three years by support linked to the fact that we invite young musicians to join the orchestra. But we don’t know what will happen in 2025. The situation for orchestras like ours is very difficult. In Europe we have strict and demanding frameworks for industry and commerce, but in the arts and music this does not exist. There is the so-called “cultural exception”, which means that each country decides what to do with its culture. There is therefore no European cultural policy, and we find ourselves in a paradoxical situation. »
“It is an unfair situation that I denounce. Because despite insufficient aid, we keep alive the repertoire from the Middle Ages to Romanticism with period instruments, documented interpretations, historical criteria. I always say that, if ensembles on ancient instruments did not exist, it would be as if at the Louvre we could only see paintings from Goya to the present day, while all the earlier paintings were stored away and hidden from the public. »
Savall directs Bruckner
Jordi Savall tells us that, when he was completing his Beethoven cycle in Salzburg this summer, he was criticized by the festival director for the fact that his orchestra cost more than the Berlin Philharmonic. ” Of course ! Because at the Philharmonie, musicians do not receive fees for concerts. They are paid monthly, and the orchestra is 100% subsidized. Our period instrument orchestras compete with millionaire orchestras with fabulous budgets. When I carry out such projects, I pay the fees and the travel, but the four days before, when I rehearse to get these projects back into shape, I pay for them. »
The public support enjoyed by Jordi Savall and his musicians comes from Spain (“very little,” he tells us), Catalonia and France, because Le Concert des Nations is French. “From France, I receive 300,000 euros; from Catalonia, 800,000 euros. But imagine that with a hundred concerts, our travel budget this year is 600,000 euros, alone, while our travel subsidy is 110,000 euros. »
“It’s complicated. We are in a heroic age. I still struggle, but the problem is that we musicians are all individualists. If we were able to come together like the aviation unions, the workers unions, we could have strength. But musicians are difficult to bring together for a common cause. »
Difficult times do not prevent Jordi Savall from having big plans. He will publish on his Alia Vox label a book-disc of four CDs in six languages with every imaginable version of the A Midsummer Night’s Dream mixing Shakespeare and Mendelssohn. He has also just recorded the first two movements of the 1D Symphony of Schumann and the “ Nullte » (Symphony No. 0) by Bruckner. Yes, Savall in Bruckner: we got there! “It’s beautiful music, lyrical and powerful. And the orchestra, after playing the nine Symphonies of Beethoven, the 4e of Mendelssohn and the Symphonies No. 8 And 9 by Schubert, play Bruckner as if it were Mozart! And you have to work a lot, because all the instruments have very soloistic parts. But it’s amazing, and we’re all very happy. »