Javier Martinez Campos: Fantaisie pour la classe d’excellence
Jean-Benoît Dunckel: Wake
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker (arranged by Samuel Parent)
Dmitri Shostakovich: Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano (arranged by Gautier Capuçon)
Quenton Xavier Blache: Of Wind and Rain
Léo Delibes: Flower Duet from Lakmé (arranged by Jérôme Ducros)
Astor Piazzzola: La Muerte del Angel from La Suite del Angel (arranged by Sébastien Walnier)
Gioachino Rossini: Overture to Guillaume Tell (arranged by Blaise Desjardin)
Antonin Dvorak: Lasst mich allein from Four Lieder, Opus 82 (arranged by Gautier Capuçon)
Richard Dubugnon: Heptasyllabes
Jasmine Barnes: Life in Sunshine
Maurice Ravel: Boléro (arranged by Jérôme Ducros)
Gautier Capuçon: Cello
Anouchka Hack: Cello
Léo Ispir: Cello
Charlotte Miles: Cello
Caroline Sypniewski: Cello
Francesco Tamburini: Cello
Jeein You: Cello
My mom and I will take any excuse, or no excuse at all, for a little, or big, trip down to Aix-en-Provence, the lovely Provençal town that I had the luck to experience at its quietest for almost a year during the pandemic. Shorter visits before and after my extended stay have only strengthened my undying love for it, and I welcome any opportunity to go spend any amount of time there, even just a couple of days.
In late September, our excuse was French cellist and educator extraordinaire Gautier Capuçon et les Capucelli—the crème de la crème among the crop of international graduates from Capuçon’s Excellence Class at the Fondation Gautier Capuçon in Paris— who were going to perform at the Grand Théâtre de Provence. No program has been provided, except for a vague promise of eclecticism, but we were confident that they would not disappoint.
Therefore, after scoring two very hard to get single tickets as soon as they went on sale (Céline Dion is clearly not the only artist in high demand in France these days), we headed down to Aix on a quiet Monday morning with the ambitious mission of making the most of two very busy days that we had packed with good friends, choice restaurants, favorite boutiques, fun markets, and, most importantly, superior live music.
We had also decided to attend the preview talk hosted by Aix conservatory’s chamber music professor Joël Nicod that would take place at the Grand Théâtre de Provence’s Teddy Bar, and while the event was not particularly well-organized (opening the door only five minutes before the starting time could only create chaos, and it sure did) or even necessary (Capuçon introduced each piece from the stage anyway), it was still interesting to hear three of the young musicians, namely Léo Ispir, Caroline Sypniewski and Jeein You, talk about their lives as cellists before getting a chance to hear them play in the sold-out concert hall.
And then, at the appointed time, the performance got underway with the Triumphal March from Aida, through which Giuseppe Verdi sumptuously depicts the Kingdom of Egypt in all its magnificent splendor. While seven cellos understandably cannot fully project the grandeur and power of a much larger opera orchestra, it was still a mightily auspicious opening that created new bold and beautiful colors and sounds.
Back in France, we quickly moved on to the first of two modern works that turned out to be some of the most thrilling numbers of the entire program, but not before the seven musicians played a game of musical chairs that they would in fact engage in before each new piece, Capuçon even managing to effortlessly blend in as just another member of the impressively cohesive group.
Once settled, they jumped right into “Fantaisie pour la classe d’excellence” (Fantaisie for the Excellence Class), which had been specifically written for Capuçon’s Excellence Class by former graduate and current cellist and composer Javier Martinez Campos. In the highly capable hands of the ensemble, it came out as an exciting homage to various popular cello concertos while keeping its own totally engaging personality.
As for Jean-Benoît Dunckel, one half of the alternative duo Air, his healthily sentimental composition “Wake”, which had been commissioned by Capuçon for his earth-themed new record Gaïa (Earth in Greek), was meant to convey the countless mysterious sounds of the forest he used to hear as a child, and on Monday evening, the seven cellists smashingly achieved that challenging task.
Our journey also took us to familiar Russian territory with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s sweetly elegant “Waltz of the Flowers” from his beloved Christmas classic The Nutcracker, which had been arranged by Samuel Parent, and then with one of Dmitri Shostakovich’s surprisingly charming Five Pieces for Two Violins and Piano, which had been arranged by Gautier Capuçon. The cello ensemble proved that this type of arranged older compositions could sound as fresh and appealing as any current works.
Another piece commissioned by Capuçon for his new record was Quenton Xavier Blache’s “Of Wind and Rain”, which brilliantly evoked what we had sorely needed all summer, while the graceful “Flower Duet” from Léo Delibes’ Lakmé, which had been arranged by Jérôme Ducros, felt like an organic continuation on the nature path we had taken. What could be more natural than picking flowers by the river after the wind and rain had subsided?
The first part of the program came to an end with “La Muerte del Angel” from Astor Piazzola’s La Suite del Angel arranged by Sébastien Walnier. This was a different but equally captivating version of the intense episode we had heard earlier in the summer, and we relished every minute of it.
The second part of the program kicked off on all cylinders with the famously take-no-prisoners overture to Gioachino Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, arranged by Blaise Desjardin, which provided us with an exhilarating crash course of the amazing range of sounds that can be produced by seven fired-up cellists.
The temperature went down with “Lasst mich allein” (Leave me alone) from Antonin Dvorak’s Four Lieder, Opus 82. Arranged by Gautier Capuçon, this intimate love letter from the composer to his dying forbidden love—His wife’s sister, of all people—delicately exuded heartbreak and nostalgia.
Next, Richard Dubugnon’s “Heptasyllabes”, a bebop-inspired concerto for cello with two three-cello groups surrounding Capuçon, had its truly winning moments, such as the back-and-forth between the two trios, but I also felt like it was unnecessarily extending its welcome.
Inspired by gospel and jazz music, Jasmine Barnes’ “Life in Sunshine” featured plenty of cool rhythms impeccably integrated in what sounded like an unstoppable movie score. This slightly out-of-the-box addition to Capuçon’s earth-celebrating record was rather short, but it did not waste any time to make an excellent impression.
The ensemble had saved the best for last though, with yet another version—This one by Jérôme Ducros—of Ravel’s timeless “Boléro”, which, according to Capuçon, is the most performed classical music composition worldwide. And sure enough, on Monday night, its implacable crescendo one more time kept everybody in the audience spellbound with hypnotic rhythms, awe-inspiring virtuosity and good old fun. Even better, everybody onstage got their moment in the spotlight and proved without a doubt what a terrific musician they were.
One of the many reasons Gautier Capuçon’s concerts are such sought-after events, besides the actual music playing, of course, is that he is invariably generous with the encores. Monday night was no exception, and we were treated to four wonderful extra pieces that included a heart-felt “Smile” from Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, an impossibly cool version of Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther” Theme, a clandestine preview of “Canzone”, a new and highly tricky composition by Thierry Escaich whose world première would take place the following evening at the Philharmonie de Paris, and, last but not least, a dynamite version of “Mambo”, one of the hits from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, which sent us all off into the night with infectious rhythms still dancing around in our heads. Even better, we bumped into our friend Jacqueline and a friend of hers on our way back to our hotel, and spent the rest of the way breathlessly comparing notes on our memorable evening.
