Heitor Villa-Lobos: Song of the Black Swan
Camille Saint-Saëns: The Swan
André Jolivet: Suite Rhapsodic for violin solo
Claude Debussy: Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp
Raphaël Chrétien: Cello
Christophe Giovaninetti: Violin
Eugénie Ikonomou: Flute
Fabrice Pierre: Harp
Pierre-Henri Xuereb: Viola
As my mom and I were still basking in the wonderful sounds we had hear the previous day, on the afternoon of the second day of the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine (European Heritage Days) weekend, the gorgeous weather had morphed into an on-going downpour that could have only one explanation: Mother Nature wanted to make sure we got the message that summer was over.
And that’s of course when we and our neighbor Anne-Marie had to leave if we wanted to make it on time for the pre-concert talk about the French composer André Jolivet, which promised to be an exciting prelude led by his daughter inside, once again, the stunning textile-mill-turned-into-art-studio of Dieulefitois painter Jean Soubeyran.
The dreadful weather having clearly scared most of the potential audience and slightly postponed the start of the talk, we punctual music lovers got a chance to visit the studio, check out some cool works in progress, and get valuable insights from the artist himself. So we could hardly complain about the revisited schedule and happily made the most of it. And seriously, what better way to spend a stubbornly rainy Sunday afternoon?
After the informal engaging talk, we got right onto the real thing as the five musicians of the day opened the musical part of our afternoon with a dynamite version of Jolivet’s Chant de Linos, a complex composition featuring an impossibly challenging and absolutely thrilling part for the flute, which ridiculously young and talented Eugénie Ikonomou readily handled without any fuss. The four gentlemen surrounding her played their part impeccably as well. We were off to a good start.
The following piece on the program was Camille Saint-Saëns’ ethereally beautiful Swan, from his Carnival of the Animals, and just as we were getting mentally prepared for it, we got treated to a totally unexpected and generous bonus when cellist Raphaël Chrétien and harpist Fabrice Pierre performed Heitor Villa-Lobos’ lesser known and much punchier Song of the Black Swan, a brilliant idea that provided the audience a very interesting and thoroughly enjoyable study in contrast.
Since it was Jolivet’s party after all, he was next with his Suite Rhapsodic for violin solo, which was fearlessly tackled and completely mastered by violinist Christophe Giovaninetti. Fact is, the journey is an occasionally tough ride, but it is melodic one too, and if one hangs in there long enough, the reward will come. On Sunday afternoon, it definitely did.
In the end, the weekend was all about celebrating French heritage, so why not end this superb little concert with… the ultimate French composer, Claude Debussy? I had never heard his Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp before, but immediately got transported into the composer’s famously ambiguous world in which everything seems possible and, sure enough, that’s when the rain stopped and the sun made a timid appearance.
After we had shaken off the delicately impressionistic atmosphere and delivered a hearty round of applause, we happily reconnected with real life through the fun little post-concert party where I shamelessly pigged out on the best brownies I had ever eaten this side of the pond while mourning the sale of my favorite painting. But at least it had ended up in worthy hands (harpist and companion) for a good cause (new empty home).
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