Franz Schubert (arranged by Bernard Cavanna): Das Wirtshaus
Franz Schubert (arranged by Bernard Cavanna): Die Taubenpost
Franz Schubert (arranged by Bernard Cavanna): Gretchen am Spinnrade
Franz Schubert (arranged by Bernard Cavanna): Erlkönig
Pascal Contet: Over the Mountains
Bernard Cavanna: Trio avec accordéon n°1 (4th movement)
Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann: Soprano
Pascal Contet: Accordion
Saskia Lethiec: Violon
David Louwerse: Cello
After exciting but late-ending back-to-back concerts in Le Poët-Laval and Bonlieu-sur-Roubion, last Sunday my mom and I were looking forward to attending a concert also starting at 8:30 PM, but in Dieulefit. Sometimes, there is indeed no place like home, especially when the concert venue is the extremely cool art studio of local painter Jean Soubeyran. Extra bonus: It also happens to have awesome acoustics (To think it used to be a textile mill!)
Although the Fête du Picodon, the annual festival revolving around the area’s famous goat cheese, and its related markets and festivities had been taking over the town, I had prudently checked those out in the morning while conducting an increasingly frantic and ultimately successful search for solar eclipse glasses, which were in even higher demand than fans back then, and then we patiently waited for the hour to get late and the temperature to go down.
And then we headed down the road for the concert organized by the Pradel Association, which, according to its advertised program, would treat us to lieder by Franz Schubert and a work by Bernard Cavanna performed by the association’s beloved regulars that are cellist David Louwerse, violinist Saskia Lethiec, accordionist Pascal Contet and soprano Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann.
Finally, there we were, among a not-so-small audience that eventually pretty much filled up the unusual venue. In fact, the event was so informal that no programs were provided. But even then, it quickly became clear that the program would focus mainly on Schubert’s songs that had been arranged by contemporary accordionist and composer—and, maybe not so coincidentally, huge Schubert fan—Bernard Cavanna, and that was more than fine with us.
Despite my lack of subject matter expertise, I was able to grasp some content of some of the songs with a little help from soprano and host Julie Cherrier-Hoffmann, and that would include the lovely opener, an exquisitely meditative ode to spring, which was probably “Im Frühling” or “Frühlingssehnsucht”. Delicately evoking the gentle beauty of nature, the composition got a soulful interpretation by Cherrier-Hoffmann, who, after having proven she could proficiently handle French repertoire on Friday night, sounded even better when handling German repertoire on Sunday night. Go figure.
Another noteworthy miniature, but in a totally different register, was “Das Wirtshaus”, which vividly described a 17th-century “tavern” by way of energizing folk music and just the right amount of darkness. Let’s face it, there’s nothing like a little bit of accordion to give a gathering place a hospitable vibe, even when said place turns out to be a graveyard. Oops!
Composed by Schubert a few weeks before his death to a poem by Johann Gabriel Seidl, “Die Taubenpost” is widely considered the composer’s inconspicuous swan song, in which an originally low-spirited “carrier pigeon”—or messenger of love— eventually puts on a positive-thinking hat and rather cheerfully confesses an irrepressible lust for life. I mean, it is probably not a coincidence that in the end we learn that the bird’s name is Sehnsucht (Longing).
And then we moved on to the masterpieces, with first the ferociously dramatic and stunningly accomplished “Gretchen am Spinnrade”, which Schubert amazingly enough wrote when he was 17 years old. Famously mirroring Gretchen's relentless spinning wheel and relentless psychological turmoil, he created no less than one of the first German classical songs of the Romantic era, which sounded exceptionally good last Sunday. On a more personal note, it also reminded of the stunning piano version that Yuja Wang performed at Carnegie Hall once as part of her numerous encores. Ah! Those were the days.
One year later, the still teenage composer came up with another highly intense tour de force inspired by Goethe’s poem’s “Erlkönig”. All the typical ingredients of a good horror story were there: Late night, dark woods, a galloping horse, a father and his son riding together, the “fairy king” and his alluring daughters, who are all only visible to the young boy whom they try to entice to join them, and the son eventually dying in his father’s arms. Besides the fact that the seducer-turned-abuser theme is unfortunately still as current as ever, the music’s dark overtones and brilliant descriptions came out deliciously spooky in the ensemble’s highly capable hands.
But Schubert was not the only composer on the program, and we also got a chance to hear “Over the Mountains”, a recent work written and performed by our accordionist for the evening Pascal Contet. That compelling solo piece musically took us on what felt like a refreshing and meditative hike over snow-covered mountains just as we were in fact surrounded by some of Soubeyran’s paintings of snow-covered mountains. Sometimes things just fall into place and all feels right in the world.
The accordion also starred, along with the violin and the cello, in the extended fourth movement of Cavanna’s Trio avec accordéon n° 1, which unfolded smoothly over a unhurried ostinato that gradually expanded around two chords played unchangeably on the accordion. It was as intriguing as it was captivating.
In the end, we wrapped up our Schubert feast with his ever-popular “Ständchen”. Based on a poem by Ludwig Rellstab, this “Serenade” has secured a spot in the lieder repertoire as a prime example of the unabashedly lyrical (and slightly schmaltzy, if you ask me) German Romantic love song genre that Schubert helped instigate and promote. That said, it was a very pleasant end to a very pleasant evening, schmaltz and all.
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