Symphonic Harmonium | Harmonium always under the stars

In 1978, I left my native Gatineau and, piled into a Renault 5 with “fourteen of my friends”, I went to see the show On the lawn, under the stars, at Jarry Park. I was 17, skinny as a nail, fattened only on herbal tea and lots of dreams. This marathon, which began around noon, brought together Garoulou, Geneviève Paris, Raôul Duguay, Zachary Richard, Jim and Bertrand and many others.

Mario Girard
The Press

The highlight of the event was of course Harmonium, which came on stage very late. I remember that Serge Fiori, Greek god of training, wore a tuque probably knitted with alpaca wool spun by Peruvian followers of Ayurveda. The group had especially offered the songs from the Fiori-Seguin disc.

Forty-four years later, the music of Harmonium can be heard again, but this time in comfortable armchairs and under the roof of the splendid Cogeco Amphitheater in Trois-Rivières. Tuesday evening took place with great fanfare the premiere of the show Symphonic Harmonium — Stories Without Words from the disc of the same title launched in the fall of 2020.

Unlike in Jarry Park, I did not see macrame ponchos, peasant skirts and wooden clogs. In fact, the chic gratin of Montreal had moved for this event produced by Nicolas Lemieux, which features the 64 musicians of the Orchester symphonique de Trois-Rivières and the Chœur des jeunes de Laval. All these beautiful people are led by a very fit Dina Gilbert.

If you have listened to the disc, know that the show uses the same pieces that Simon Leclerc arranged, drawing inspiration from the three Harmonium discs. I immediately warn the purists: the amplification of the orchestra is powerful. My former colleague, the late Claude Gingras, would probably have fainted hearing that, he who has always defended the natural sound of orchestras.

I received this ambitious program (the show lasts nearly two hours) in the same way that I received the record. I find that there are moments of grace among the 20 pieces offered. But also moments that sound downright “fanfare”. This is especially true in rhythmic passages (Today I say hello to life, A musician among many others, Harmonium).

Fortunately, other music by Serge Fiori, Michel Normandeau and Neil Chotem fits much better into this “symphonic” setting. The hallway, The first sky, exile (which offers us the presence of Kim Richardson) and like a sage provide a good dose of chills.

Obviously, Stories without wordsthe piece de resistance of the record If we needed a fifth season, is the one that best passes the ramp. This work (which includes the warm voice of Luce Dufault, decades after that of Judi Richards) is already in a way a small symphony.

And then, it must be said, the music of Neil Chotem, the “seventh member of the group”, who raised The Heptad to a higher rank thanks to his compositions and his arrangements, serve this project marvelously well. This master was able from the start, in 1976, to integrate into the disc (a true masterpiece of our discographic heritage) the presence of a large orchestra.

To wrap it all up, we created projections that accompany each of the pieces at the back of the stage. These were created by Noise Head Studio. This is a major asset to the show. And then, there is this staging by Marcella Grimaux which sowed some perplexity in me. We bring down from the ceiling a man seated on a park bench who represents in a way “the crazy crisse who walks above the city”, the tormented and isolated being imagined by Fiori for the record The Heptad.

A young boy, a sort of Little Prince, appears. He joins the man thanks to a huge ladder. The image is strong, endlessly poetic. Except that… We have the impression that we don’t know what to do with this idea. It’s fading away. We wait for something to happen, in vain. After a while, I stopped wondering what people were trying to tell me and focused on the music.

Added to this are rabbits who come and go on stage in an enigmatic way. Many wondered what they were doing there. In fact, it’s a nice nod to the cover of If we needed a fifth season created by Louis-Pierre Bougie, a fabulous visual artist who passed away in January 2021.

Despite these few drawbacks, we feel that the public has immense pleasure in reconnecting with the music of this legendary group. It was not uncommon to hear people humming tunes. The memory machine is working hard.

It was cool on Tuesday. The wind from the river was doing its work. But we were fine. The last two years were suddenly far behind us. In that sense, this show is arguably worth every vaccine in the world.

Talkative viewers

Have we forgotten how to behave in society during the pandemic? Still, there were several talkative spectators on Tuesday evening. Beside me, glass of alcohol in hand, four spectators did not stop talking during the two hours of the show. Behind me, a woman was singing the lyrics out loud.

No matter how hard we stared at these people or waved them to be quiet, there was nothing we could do. They were at home.

Last Sunday, I went back to see the magnificent spectacle For a one night stand in Maisonneuve Hall. Spectators at the party threw their drinks at people asking them to sit down. A skirmish ensued that lasted several minutes. All this during a particularly poignant song by Joe Bocan.

It was downright embarrassing.

A little reminder for those who have forgotten this principle: at home, in front of the TV, we have the right to talk. In a performance hall or theatre, we close the hatch!

Do we agree on that?

The beauty of Trois-Rivières

One of the pleasures of a visit to the Cogeco Amphitheater is that you can walk the streets of downtown Trois-Rivières before the show. God this city is beautiful! Rue des Ursulines is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful avenues in Quebec.

One thing struck me and it’s the way the owners of historic buildings on rue des Forges renovate and pamper their property. Nothing to do with those of the Plaza Saint-Hubert or other streets of Montreal who let their buildings rot for decades while waiting to pocket the jackpot.

Symphonic Harmonium — Stories Without Words

At the Cogeco Amphitheater.Until June 4.