Camille Saint-Saëns: The Swan from The Carnival of the Animals
Henry Eccles: Violin Sonata in G Minor
Jules Massenet: Meditation from Thais
Alfred Desenclos: Aria et Rondo pour contrebasse et piano
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Medley from The Magic Flute
Maurice Ravel: Bolero
Giovanni Bottesini: Bolero
Julien Mathias: Bass
Jean-Baptiste Mathulin: Piano
As all kinds of musical events are popping up in and around Dieulefit, it is becoming difficult to figure out which ones to choose, if we must choose. On the other hand, it is obviously hard to complain about such an embarrassment of richness, especially these days as the excessive heat has subdued and all we have to worry about is how to keep up pace and miss as little as possible.
Among all the endlessly inventive organizations providing us with superior quality performances on a shoestring budget, the Comps Historique association is always at the top of our list, and not just because a good friend of my mom’s volunteers for them. We love their wide-ranging programming, of course, but truth be told, we love the little hilltop Romanesque church they use for their concerts even more.
And that’s where my mom and I, and a lot of other eager music lovers, were last Friday evening at the totally civilized time of 6:00 PM for Alter Duo, which consists of Julien Mathias at the bass and Jean-Baptiste Mathulin at the piano (Seriously). Those two buddies have known each other for over two decades and, when they’re not teaching at the music conservatories of Lyon and Geneva respectively, they take the time to have fun together and to share it with the rest of us too. And we are all very thankful for that.
The concert started with a French Romantic composer that everybody knows and loves, Camille Saint-Saëns, and two excerpts from a work of his that everybody knows and loves, The Carnival of the Animals. “The Elephant” and “The Swan” episodes had not been randomly selected though. They had made it into our program because they could easily be handled by the piano and bass, even if they were not originally written for them. On Sunday evening, the bass-based Elephant stomped around endearingly before the cello-based Swan graciously glided by to the most exquisite melody. We were off to a good start.
We then jumped back two centuries and across the Channel for English Baroque composer Henry Eccles and his Violin Sonata in G Minor, a wonderful set of four movements that adroitly blended French elegance and Italian liveliness. Getting to hear such an uncommon arrangement of such formal work was both entertaining and educational.
This summer is slowly but surely turning into the summer of Thais for us. We have heard “Meditation” performed first on the violin by Baptiste Chaillot, then on the cello by David Louwerse, and last Friday on the bass by Julien Mathias. I will not even try to pick a favorite, but I have to say that the bass version was certainly the most outside-the-box. It preserved the stunning lyricism of the original while wrapping it in a sexily dark sheath. Fun Fact: Massenet was from Saint-Étienne, just like the members of Alter Duo.
And then, as if to keep things interesting, Mathulin informed us that they were making a few changes to the program, starting with the addition of modern French composer Alfred Desenclos and his Aria et Rondo pour contrebasse et piano. The Aria turned out to be a deeply Romantic love song and the Rondo a thrillingly jazzy tour de force. That unexpected treat ended up rocking the little church to a rare degree.
Just as unexpected, but definitely more familiar, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart showed up next with a medley from The Magic Flute, never mind that it is probably one of my least favorite operas (All that perkiness!). That said, if you have never heard “The Queen of the Night”, which is one the highest arias in the standard opera repertoire, played on the bass, which is one of the lowest instruments in the standard orchestra repertoire, you don’t know what you’re missing. It was truly amazing.
I suspected that Maurice Ravel’s hypnotic Bolero would stay on the program for the simple reason that Mathulin was dutifully practicing it when we walked into the church earlier than planned. And sure enough, there he was, expertly churning out its inexorable rhythm and sinuous theme all by himself.
Why stop at one bolero though? No reason. Therefore, it did not take long for us to be served the uplifting Bolero by Italian Romantic composer, conductor, and double bass virtuoso (He was after all called “The Paganini of the double bass”) Giovanni Battesini. That one put the merciless spotlight on Mathias, who handled it with plenty of his own virtuosity.
And that was not all. After those two charming and talented young men were effusively thanked with a thunderous ovation, they came back with two encores: “Kicho”, a musical tribute from Astor Piazzolla (It seems that this summer is turning into the summer of Piazzolla too) to Enrique “Kicho” Diaz, the legendary double bass player who was also his bandmate and his friend, as well as two different versions—one slow, one fast— of the bass theme found in The Trout Quintet by Franz Schubert. Just because.
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