Pradel Association - Schubert & Cavanna - 08/10/25

Franz Schubert: Various lieder from Winterreise 

Bernard Cavanna: Various works 

Julie Cherrier Hoffman: Soprano 

Pascal Contet: Accordion 

Saskia Lethiec: Violin 

David Louwerse: Cello 

Just as we have rather abruptly moved from temperatures so low that some of us wore puffy coats in the middle of the day to a heat wave so intense that nobody feels like going out for most of the day, there’s never a dull moment in Drôme Provençale in summer! And there’s no stopping the music either, so last Sunday my mom and I decided to soldier on and move on to our next concert, definitely relieved that it would take place in the nearby medieval village of Poët-Laval at 8:30 PM (Early enough to get a decent night sleep, and late enough not to have to sweat through it). 

We also benefited from a powerful wind that, while being rather warm, still helped us keep cool. It also caused a fortuitous change of venue from the castle’s winter garden, which is not much more than a wide open courtyard in front of the building’s main entrance, to the Centre d’Art Yvon Morin’s better protected small amphitheater with the panoramic view, where we found chairs that provided optimal acoustics, an easy exit, and a better exposure to the wind, albeit a very limited view of the stage and the crowded bleachers below. 

The event’s popularity was all the more unexpected in that the program was kind of adventurous, mixing 19th-century Austrian composer Schubert, 21st-century French composer Bernard Cavanna, two regular visitors of the area, violinist Saskia Lethiec and cellist David Louwerse, a returning musician that brought the house, or rather the winter’s garden, down last year, accordionist Pascal Contet, along with a promising new artist we were eager to hear, soprano Julie Cherrier Hoffman. 

So there we were, relishing a privileged spot right in the center of a beautiful historic village during the golden hour of a blustery but pleasant summer night, and we were all ready, willing and able to experiment. Since no programs had been given and the introduction by the Pradel Association’s tireless president Pascaline Dallemagne had been kind of inaudible, we figured that we’d just sit back and enjoy. And that we certainly did as darkness was slowly creeping up on us and made the whole happening even more spellbinding. 

The performance included several lieder from Franz Schubert’s masterpiece Winterreise, whose physical elements and emotional forces Cherrier Hoffman gracefully conveyed with natural phrasing and perfect diction, whether they dealt with melancholy, sorrow, wonder, regret, merriment or, maybe the most important of them all, hope. The three instrumental musicians played their added parts respectfully, and gave another, more complex, dimension to those short but eloquent vignettes. 

Interspersed among those songs were a few movements of Bernard Cavanna’s compositions, which was not a total surprise since he is a huge fan of Schubert and even transcribed the piano part of some of the composer’s pieces for violin, cello and accordion. We were not able to make out Contet’s probably edifying explanations from our perch, but that did not keep us from being totally engaged in those quickly fleeting, widely contrasting, resolutely modern miniatures. 

As the ultimate parting gift, we were treated to a gorgeous take on Schubert’s ever-popular Serenade that concluded our evening on a exquisite note in the mostly dark, slightly spooky village.

Comps Historique - Sagot-Duvauroux & Lovie - Bach, Mozart & Beethoven - 08/03/25

Johann Sebastian Bach: Various slow movements 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Various slow movements 

Ludwig von Beethoven: Largo of Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24 (Spring) 

Sylvie Sagot-Duvauroux: Piano 

Laurent Lovie: Violon 

After two musically terrific and geographically very convenient concerts in Dieulefit during the week, last Sunday morning my mom and I decided to go to nearby Comps, and more precisely its adorable Romanesque chapel—officially the église de Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul—standing proudly on its hill among the surrounding fields since the 12th century, for one of Comps Historique (Historical Comps) association’s numerous musical events. And who cares if we had to put up with freezing temperatures and powerful gusts under, admittedly, a bright blue sky, because we arrived way too early (Thanks, mom!) and understandably had to wait for the church door to open? 

The perspective of hearing pieces by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven in such an eerily beautiful place was just too irresistible to pass, especially since the concert would feature Sylvie Sagot-Duvauroux, who is not only a highly praised local pianist, but also the founder of the E il piano va association, whose mission involves taking her piano everywhere and reach as many unsuspecting music lovers as possible. Even better, she was going to be joined by violinist and comedian Laurent Lovie, who has made it a habit to join her for new intriguing endeavors. 

Apparently, a lot of people had felt the same, including hard-core regulars who looked familiar and out-of-town visitors who looked curious, as the small space filled up quickly—all the better to keep one another warm, I suppose—for this exciting little Sunday apéritif. 

The “program” we were handed inside was not an actual program, but a flyer containing the musicians’ bios and not much else. So before getting the ball rolling, Lovie explained to us that they had chosen slow movements from various sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach to begin with, and invited us to just go with flow and enjoy the performance, which sounded just about the most appropriate thing to do on an unusually chilly Sunday morning in the middle of summer. 

And in fact, as played by those two remarkably talented and wonderfully in sync musicians, the music turned out to be brilliantly thoughtful, melancholic or tender, especially once an increasingly frustrated Lovie at last asked, nicely but firmly, the numerous over-enthusiastic members of the audience to stop clapping between the movements, and more particularly during the movements. And sure enough, things got even better after this significant improvement. 

After Bach, we moved on to slow movements from various sonatas by our dear Mozart, and it did not take long for the little chapel to resonate with some carefully hand-picked treats from the Viennese master’s vast and magnificent œuvre. Maybe it was the intimate setting, maybe it was the gifted duo, but this substantial series of various pieces quickly turned into a truly delightful set filled with quick wit, cool elegance and genuine warmth. 

The last piece of the kind of official program, the only one that for some reason got a proper introduction, was the unabashedly radiant Adagio molto espressivo of Ludwig von Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, or Spring sonata, whose delicately lyricism felt downright optimistic on Sunday morning, as if it was meant to emphasize the irrepressible forces of nature that bring the world annual rebirth no matter what. And we happily gobbled it all up. 

And then, just as we thought we were done, the generous musicians decided to wrap things up for good with a delicious encore that a teenage Mozart wrote while staying in Milan. Smart, fun, and already incredibly accomplished, of course, this much appreciated parting gift what just what we needed to perk up before returning to the cold, cold world outside.

Les musicales - Trio Jabob and friends - Bach, Bruch & Schoenberg - 07/31:25

Johann Sebastian Bach: Partita in D Minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1004 (Chaccone) 

Max Bruch: Romanza for Viola in F Major, Op. 85 

 Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) 

Pauline Buet: Cello 

Charlotte Chahuneau: Violin 

Raphaël Jacob: Violin 

Sarah Jacob: Cello 

Jérémy Pasquier: Viola 

Stéphanie Réthoré: Viola 

About twenty-four hours after our first of the two concerts organized by Les musicales (The musical events) association, my mom and I were back at the same time and place, and possibly the same seats, for another evening of exciting compositions performed by top-notch musicians right next door to her place, and we were thrilled to share that second special occasion with our other friend named Jacqueline and her husband Jacques, as well as my mom’s new neighbor Anne-Marie. 

Even if the attractive venue was not quite as packed as the night before, probably due to Nathanaël Gouin’s absence from the stage (but not from the audience!) and the organization had not really improved (At least this time we knew where to go to help ourselves with programs), the audience was sizable and the atmosphere congenial. And then it was onward and forward with the music on that fine Thursday night. 

And to kick things off in the barest and grandest possible way, we had fearless violinist Raphaël Jacob tackle no less than Johann Sebastian Bach’s monumental Chaconne. Allegedly in order to commemorate his wife’s death, the composer took inspiration from a Spanish tune and came up with one of the most stringently constructed and emotionally dazzling pieces in classical music. Climbing the Himalaya of the violin repertoire with plenty of assurance and dexterity, Jacob commandingly conveyed the somber drama and deep spirituality of the relentlessly daunting life and death ride, and incidentally opened the concert with a resounding bang all by himself (with a little help from Bach). 

Max Bruch is of course famous for his first violin concerto, whose immense popularity has never shown any signs of slowing down, to the composer’s never-ending frustration. That said, he was far from being a one-hit wonder, and if none of his other works has fared as well, his Romanza for Viola remains a lovely tribute to the often-neglected instrument. This was particularly clear on Thursday night, when violist Jérémy Pasquier impeccably starred in the one-movement composition while being solidly accompanied by the tight ensemble made of his buddies playing in semi-circle around him. 

Since it had been decided that there would not be an intermission after all, we moved right into a resolutely downsized version of Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht, a beautiful tone poem that is both lushly romantic and boldly inventive, and revealing a little more than a passing hint of Schoenberg’s ground-breaking endeavors to come. Unsurprisingly, it did not take me long to realize that while this bare-boned Transfigured Night by default did not have the multi-layered texture and countless details of the orchestral original, it still had the capacity to wrap its captive audience into its inconspicuously mesmerizing embrace, as it sure did. 

So much so, in fact, that we did not mind that much when no encore was offered. As one of the violists for the evening—and Les musicales’ founder and musical director—Stéphanie Réthoré pointed out, what can you play after THAT?

Les musicales - Trio Jacob and friends - Ravel & Beethoven - 07/30/25

Maurice Ravel: Prélude 

Maurice Ravel: À la manière de 

Maurice Ravel: Jeux d’eau 

Maurice Ravel: Pavane pour une enfant défunte 

Maurice Ravel: Gaspard de la nuit 

Ludwig von Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37 

Nathanaël Gouin: Piano 

Charlotte Chahuneau: Violin 

Raphaël Jacob: Violin 

Sarah Jacob: Cello 

Jérémy Pasquier: Viola 

After a string of wonderfully varied concerts in nearby villages and one in downtown Dieulefit this past month, last week my mom and I were very much looking forward to attending two high-quality concerts organized by Les musicales (The musical events) association that would take place… literally next door to my mom's place! Now how about that? Apart from having them in her living room or yard, which might have been a bit too much of a good thing, we could not have asked for a more convenient location. And in fact, I almost did not care that they started at the still kind of ungodly time of 9:00 PM. 

The only thing that remained for us was to figure out where they would exactly take place, les Sources de Dieulefit being a vast resort comprising hotel rooms, seminar facilities, wellness services and a restaurant, but no entertainment venue. But not knowing where we were going could not keep us from performances by French pianist extraordinaire Nathanaël Gouin and the sterling-resume-carrying musicians of the Trio Jacobs and friends, all of them being superb musicians who had impressed us big time last year. 

So on Wednesday night, after separate walks in the park following the ubiquitous signs, my mom and I met up outside one of the estate’s beautifully restored former barns, which, on top of it, turned out to have decent acoustics too despite a low ceiling. We were happy, although not particularly surprised, to see quite a few familiar faces in the audience packing the spacious venue, and while the general organization left a lot to be desired—If you want concert-goers to give you their tickets, you may want to stand by the entrance as they come in. Oh, and having programs handy may not be a bad idea either—we eventually found excellent seats next to a couple of friends. 

To fully enjoy a virtuoso’s super-natural skills, it is best to have challenging works composed by another virtuoso, and that’s exactly what we got on Wednesday night, as Nathanaël Gouin had decided to tackle several challenging pieces by 20th-century France’s fearlessly ground-breaking and amazingly wide-ranging composer, conductor and pianist Maurice Ravel to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the artist’s birth. It takes one to know one, and apparently to play one. 

And what a stupendous birthday feast it was! The celebration started rather inconspicuously with the Prélude and other short amuse-bouches, but it quickly gathered speed, substance and complexity with Gouin’s brilliantly playful Jeux d’eau (Ciao Italia!) and soberly elegant Pavane pour une enfant défunte (¡Hola España!), before wrapping up the party with the thrilling tour de force that is the three drastically different and awfully taxing movements of Gaspard de la nuit (Coucou la France!), which Gouin handled with poise, heart and, yes, impressive virtuosity. 

After the intermission, during which my mom’s friend and long-time piano teacher Jacqueline marveled at Gouin’s exceptional talent and a nearby acquaintance and piano student wondered aloud how he could “produce such sounds”, the man was back onstage with the Trio Jacob’s musicians and violinist Charlotte Chahuneau. And they were all there to share with us a very cool experiment, namely a chamber music version of Ludwig von Beethoven’s magnificent Piano Concerto No. 3, the one that took the composer 6 years to complete. 

But hey, milestone works do take time, and this concerto, which boldly moves from purely classical structure to the more ambitious and passionate style that will come to define its maker, has proved many times over that it had been worth the wait. One obviously cannot expect the same musical experience from a full orchestra and from a string quartet, but I can now say that they are both equally satisfying in their own way. I will also add that the radically downsized and wonderfully intimate performance we got to hear on Wednesday night superbly highlighted the inner structure of the piece, and therefore allowed us to appreciate the composition on a whole different level.

Moreover, having the opportunity to hear Gouin—and to watch his magical fingers—again in a totally different context was another rewarding treat, so extremely rewarding in fact, that we did not even mind the absence of an encore, or at least not that much (Little sigh).