Even if Kent Nagano is no longer the official conductor of the Orchester symphonique de Montréal, the tradition continues: the maestro and Fred Pellerin are teaming up again and starting this Wednesday a fifth Christmas story, Paradise post. Unexpected reunions, which will combine the virtuoso language of the storyteller with that of composers like Debussy, Mozart and Prokofiev.
When Kent Nagano announced his departure from the Orchester symphonique de Montréal (OSM), we did not expect to witness another of these symphonic tales with Fed Pellerin, whose ensemble had made a tradition for more than a decade. The storyteller himself had somewhat mourned it.
“I thought it was over because maestro was leaving, admits the storyteller, during an interview alongside the conductor. But it’s like kinship: they go away, but at Christmas they will come back. Maestro Nagano is back for Christmas! ”
We can guess the smile of Fred Pellerin behind his mask. And if Kent Nagano is of a more reserved nature, he does not hide his happiness to be back in Montreal to present this new symphonic tale to the delirious storyteller. “A Christmas without Fred Pellerin is a Christmas where something is missing,” he says.
Two paths to the afterlife
Paradise post takes place where the stories imagined by Fred Pellerin usually unfold: in Saint-Élie-de-Caxton. The storytelling candle is also the origin of the name of the village, reveals the storyteller. It makes no secret: the name would have been inherited from the first parish priest. The show tells about his arrival and the links he manages to establish with the local “characters”.
“It works quite well with everyone, but there is one with whom it gets stuck: the Madam of the post office, tells Fred Pellerin. In communications with the afterlife, there is the parish priest’s steeple, which goes vertically, and the leaning post office tower, which goes towards a horizontal beyond – in the direction of elsewhere. ”
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Maestro Kent Nagano with storyteller Fred Pellerin
The “mail lady” plays with the envelopes and answers, can even change the contents of the envelopes. The freedoms she allows herself and the authority she has in the village “play a bit in the parish priest’s flower beds”, says the storyteller. Which will certainly make sparks. “We’re going to test this thing to see where it can lead,” he adds, “and even see the current fallout from this delirium.” ”
Storytelling in music
“The relationship Fred talks about also goes through music,” says Kent Nagano. Chosen in concert with the storyteller and the director René Richard Cyr in particular, the works on the program must “illustrate the tale”, undoubtedly magnify it.
For Paradise post, the choice fell on short works. The first is by Debussy (Nocturnes L.91 II “Fêtes”) that we can easily imagine as an opening because of the sense of adventure, the tension and the magic it carries. Then will come a movement of the Symphony noto 1 by Prokofiev and a very short piece by Henri Dutilleux (“Appels “, extract from Mystery of the moment), filled with worry and tension. A certain calm returns with Mozart and an epic epilogue by Bartók.
Maestro Nagano approaches symphonic tales with a lot of openness. The only thing he doesn’t want to deviate from is the repertoire. The OSM is an orchestra that plays classical music and it wants to showcase this expertise. “We don’t crossover and we don’t play pop,” he said calmly. Fred Pellerin says for his part that he feels great pleasure in “coloring” the tale with music taken from the “great repertoire”.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, THE PRESS
Kent Nagano and Fred Pellerin
It does not say that Paradise post will be the last collaboration of the two creators. What seems more certain, however, is that neither the maestro nor the storyteller would continue this tradition of the symphonic tale without the other. “This project is more than a show, it’s a form of writing,” says Fred Pellerin. If I worked with another chef, I wouldn’t be doing the same. ”
Kent Nagano, for his part, feels confident with Fred Pellerin, whose sense of timing “So refined” and which, according to him, fits perfectly in the manner of a symphony orchestra like the OSM. “The nuances and the way of delivering, it’s something that you immediately feel [chez Fred], he said. We have no trouble understanding each other. ”
Paradise post is presented from Wednesday at the Maison symphonique.