Orford Musique offered a concert on Saturday by Mexican pianist Jorge Federico Osorio, the first recital in Quebec by this 73-year-old artist who has been known to record lovers for decades through a discography that includes works by Enrique Bátiz, the former emblematic conductor of the National Orchestra of Mexico. We did not rediscover an unknown genius or an artist who went under the radar in the last quarter century, but heard the solid performance of a very good musician.
We must always be on the lookout for artists, pianists in particular, who return to the forefront of the scene in their sixties or seventies, even though we have not heard from them for a long time.
In fact the ” business musical” is intractable, and fame sometimes has nothing to do with the value of the protagonists. Eclipses have occurred, as we have seen with Christian Blackshaw, and crossings of the desert also, with Sergei Babayan. The most striking case of “resurrection” was Sergio Fiorentino (1927-1998) who had a young career (1953-1965), devoted himself to teaching (1965-1993) and then returned to the stage once retired. Alas, he enjoyed it for barely four years (as did music lovers).
Beyond the keyboard
In the case of Jorge Federico Osorio, listening to him on Saturday “unfold” his Sonata D. 960 Schubert, we understand in all points his rank and the objective international anonymity into which he has gradually melted. There is none of the “Oh, what an injustice not to hear about him anymore” effect felt when the Cuban-American Horacio Gutiérrez, with a flourishing career in the 1980s, made a “comeback” in 2004 by replacing him with a surprisingly high quality in the 4e Concerto from Beethoven to the OSM.
Jorge Federico Osorio is a very good musician, who does not disrupt the progress of Schubert’s last sonata. The tempos, held and serene, are governed by logical relationships between them. Moreover, the dynamics are correct; neither exaggerated nor too constrained.
The first dimension that is missing is the palette of touch. The sonata is very “played”; it hardly opens atmospheric or philosophical horizons outside the keys and the keyboard. The pianist does not seem, thus, to impose a height of view, any more than, second flat note, he really reassures of his total mastery at all times. There is, here and there, not too serious, but notable, such a small skid in the 1er movement. Not enough to sabotage the experience, but enough to make you think that we are quite far from the concerts of Blackshaw or Marc-André Hamelin in Schubert in this same hall.
A good point in this afternoon with Jorge Federico Osorio is his program, with a second part (linked without a break) Spanish and South American beginning with three dances by Granados. In all this part, we will note a better assumed digital solidity, but, in Granados, always this lack of subtlety in the climates. Beautiful Mexican part to finish. Pleasant concert without revelation, therefore.
The program
“Technically,” this recital was a prelude to the Orford Music Festival, which will officially open next Friday at 7:30 p.m. with a recital by Alain Lefèvre in works by Debussy, André Mathieu and his own compositions. On Saturday at 4:30 p.m., the Violons du Roy and Thomas Le Duc-Moreau will offer scores by Bach, Dauvergne and the transcription of Debussy’s Quartet.
The most original appearance of the summer at Orford, during a festival themed around the Belle Époque, will be that of 27-year-old British pianist Martin James Bartlett, on Friday, July 12 at 7:30 p.m. He will perform works by Ravel, Couperin, Debussy, Schumann, several from his recent album Warner Dance.
During this 2024 Festival, closed on August 10 by Stéphane Tétreault and Olivier Hébert-Bouchard, the other expected visit from across the Atlantic will be that, on July 19, of the Busch Trio in the Trio by Ravel and the 1er Trio by Mendelssohn. Founded in 2012, this group takes up a legendary name (that of the Trio led by Adolf Busch in the 1920s-1930s), a bit like if a new car brand were called Bugatti… This real-fake-new-“authentic” Busch Trio made itself known through recordings, rather good, published by Alpha.