A packed church for a high-level choral evening
Resmusica - Patrick Jézéquel - Singing Ravel
Making Ravel heard a cappella: this is the very beautiful idea presented by Léo Warynski and the Métaboles as part of the Rencontres musicales de Vézelay, organized by the Cité de la Voix. A Ravel revisited by four transcriptionists: Clytus Gottwald, Thierry Machuel, Gérard Pesson and Thibault Perrine. When choral singing swells a universe full of grace and color ...
On the program, a dozen songs, some from opuses written directly for the voice, as well as Les Trois Chansons, Ravel’s only a cappella work; the others for instruments, even orchestra, like the Bolero, which will be the star of the evening. Gentle immersion with Pavane pour une infante defunte (1899-1910), transcribed for choir by Thibault Perrine, who will greet him at the end of the concert. He borrows the text from another pavane, very famous this one: Belle qui tient ma vie. The flexibility of the voices and the homogeneity of the whole are immediately appreciated, as well as the management of effects, such as this suspension on the verge of silence before the theme is reexposed. The same Perrine will end the evening with the sparkling Bolero (1928). This success, which has become global, to the great surprise of its composer, has this evening the same spontaneous support from the public, who not only have the original in their ears, but appreciate the great qualities of the arrangement for vocal ensemble. . And it is indeed a joy to see as much as to hear the slow crescendo of a repetitive melody supported by an intangible rhythm. The themes, sung by one or two male voices, circulate from desk to desk then swell, being taken up by an increasing number of choristers. Congratulations also to the men responsible for whistling between their teeth the ostinato, originally struck on a snare drum. A pounding on the platform is heard timidly before its general spread. At the end of the day, this bass drum effect doubles as the men beat their chests while the women hit their thighs. The picturesque and joyfulness of the work is conveyed with a certain humor by the whistles that accompany the two themes and the "wow, wow" of the tenors who comment on them. The acclaimed Bolero will even be given in part during the second encore.
The difficulty or the embarrassment, listening to an arranged music, is the memory of the reference in its original workforce, and we can regret that many transcriptions, however successful they may be, give the impression to stick to their model. This is certainly not the case with tLa Pavane de la Belle au Bois dormant (1908-1912), adapted by Thierry Machuel, which clearly plays the four desks, thus conveying the diaphanous elegance of the Ravelian universe. A quiet whistle further reinforces the impression of distance or false lightness emanating from such music as from a flower garden. Also noteworthy is the transcription of Soupir (1913) by Clytus Gottwald, whose quivering high-pitched superimposed voices irresistibly evoke Ligeti's Lux aeterna. This piece was commissioned by Gottwald, who premiered it in 1966, the year it was composed, with his ensemble, the Schola Cantorum in Stuttgart. Certain pieces stand out for their joyful and hopping side, such as Nicolette, the first LesTrois Chansons (1914-1915). Others by the flight of solo voices, such as La Flûte enchantée (1903), extracted from Scheherazade and arranged by Gérard Pesson (born in 1958), where the soprano Amandine Trenc (sublime!) Stands out in volutes on a carpet of low notes.
This 21st edition of the festival, which forges a secret link between two Apaches, Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) and the conductor Désiré-Émile Inghelbrecht (1880-1965), is a pleasant wink. In fact, from 1900 until the First World War, the Parisian circle of friends, self-baptized the Société des Apaches, met, in which all of Ravel's works were created. As for Inghelbrecht, he spent his summers very often, from 1923 until his death, in his house on rue Saint-Étienne, located some 150m from the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, as one plaque recalls. A church is packed today for a high-end choral evening.
