crédit photo: Sarah ODriscoll

POP Montréal is undoubtedly one of the major fall events for true music fans. From Wednesday, September 27 to Sunday, October 1, dozens and dozens of discoveries and acclaims from artists nestled in pop are taking place in Montreal. Follow the PAN M 360 team until Sunday!

Make no mistake, Afro-American folk is not a new thing – it’s all a question of distribution and perception. It’s been around for a long time, and on Friday we had a more than convincing example of it in the Hall du Rialto.

Admittedly, it’s far too early to assert that Californian Annahstasia is of the musical caliber of a Nina Simone or that her writing could one day reach the level of Langston Hughes. Let’s not get carried away, but… It’s crystal clear that this artist exudes depth, singularity and uncommon talent. We can’t but bow down before the absolute elegance of her being, her voice (a tad flayed at the end of the program), her folk, her instrumentation – acoustic and electric guitars, cello, bass, percussion.

Content and form combine perfectly, personal commitment expressed with the poetic distance necessary for the best songwriting. In short, there are no apparent flaws in this brilliant, magnificent woman, blessed by the gods. Admittedly, she uses materials that are a tad dated (folk, jazz, chamber music), but… what a use! To make something new out of something old, and to revitalize classical forms, is reserved for very few artists. Our relationship with Annahstasia is still in its infancy, we assure you.

M.I. Blue

In first part of program, M.I. Blue a fact his talent. With a penchant for soul/R&B, folk and jazz, she took to the stage with a sober instrumentation of guitar/bass and drums, and carried off her original repertoire, including an evocation of Nat King Cole or even a bossa nova interlude. Her classicism and refinement are immediately seductive, and her alto voice reveals an artist in full emergence of her musical identity. That said, M.I. Blue has not yet won her spurs, and more stones will have to be added to her edifice before we can conclude that she has truly asserted her identity. For the instant, on recognizing his talent and observing the development suite.

Fraud Perry et Backxwash

At the end of the evening at Piccolo Rialto, we enjoyed the spectacular presence of Montreal rapper and singer Fraud Perry. She plays it very sensually and fully assumes her hypersexualized persona, yet thirsts for freedom, autonomy, and self-assertion. Her lyrics often evoke virtual conversations, and muscular dialogues with various interlocutors, often men and women who don’t approach her at the desired level and whom she soon brings down to her level, i.e. face to face. The beat-making is solid and multi-genre, drawing on grime, hip-hop, trap and soul/R&B. The general drawl can be vulgar and direct but doesn’t leave anyone indifferent. Without question, Fraud Perry is something special.

At the end of the night’s program, African-born trans artist Backxwash was summoned to replace rapper Junglepussy at short notice. The Montrealer reminded us why she won the Polaris Prize in 2020. Expressive bombast! Hardcore and metal beatmaking propel this paroxysmal, extremely violent and oh-so-addictive rap. Backxwash’s return to Montreal heralds the next chapter in her atypical career.

POP Montréal is undoubtedly one of the major fall events for true music fans. From Wednesday, September 27 to Sunday, October 1, dozens and dozens of discoveries and acclaims from artists nestled in pop are taking place in Montreal. Follow the PAN M 360 team until Sunday!

Candi Staton: fit at 83!

Every year, POP Montréal throws up some superb surprises, drawing from the great pool of forgotten but still active veterans, this time at the Rialto Theatre: the appearance of Candi Staton, the celebrated soul and gospel singer behind the hit Young Hearts Run Free. After a career spanning 60 years and some 30 albums, the American is still creating and preparing for the release of Earth Roots next October. Friday evening marked her first visit to Montreal since 1977.

By 9pm, a large crowd of nostalgic fans and onlookers were eagerly awaiting her arrival. As soon as she took to the stage, Candi Staton was brimming with energy and confidence. “It feels so good to be back in Montreal,” she said. Now 83 years old (yes, you read that right), the singer dances with ease and her magnificent voice is always in evidence. One thing’s for sure, Candi Staton doesn’t look her age at all!

On stage, Staton is accompanied by two keyboardists, two backing singers, two guitarists and a drummer. Among these, the soul legend can count on two of her sons, Marcus Williams on drums and Clarence Carter Jr. on guitar. For most of the show, she performed her own interpretation of such timeless hits as Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds and Ben E. King’s Stand by Me. Throughout, the audience responded to her performance, in true communion with the artist.

Halfway through, Staton showed slight signs of fatigue, so she sat down and told us various anecdotes. These calmer moments between songs made the whole thing even more intimate, and we couldn’t complain. After more than 75 minutes of performance, the American concluded with her most popular songs, Young Hearts Run Free and You Got the Love, interspersed with a jam lasting several minutes where each of the artists on stage had their moment to shine. The atmosphere was festive, and it felt like a gospel mass!

At 83 years of age, Candi Staton gave a warm performance at the Rialto, proving that there’s no age limit to being a diva!

Janette King, pure R&B

Before Candi Staton, Rialto guests were treated to two other performances, including that of singer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ Janette King. Based in Montreal for several years now, the British-Colombian made a name for herself in 2021 with her excellent album What We Lost.

Under the spotlight, Janette King shines with remarkable ease and a sublime voice. A drummer and keyboardist accompany her with a jazz and soul soundtrack. The singer slaloms between sensuality and aplomb; the crowd is hypnotized by her various proposals. Her rhythms are catchy and make you want to get up and dance, which is what many spectators did throughout her show. There’s no doubt that Janette King has a bright future ahead of her!

THEHONESTGUY, une proposition douce et sensible

To kick off the evening at the Rialto, the crowd met singer THEHONESTGUY. Originally from Nigera and now based in Toronto, Mubarak Adeyemi’s real name is his R&B and pop sound, tinged with funk and soul inspirations. In 2023, he was nominated at the JUNO Awards for “Best Traditional R&B/Soul Project of the Year” with his EP HOW TO MAKE LOVE.

Dressed in a mauve outfit, THEHONESTGUY has a sensitive voice and interacts a lot with the crowd. Accompanied by a guitarist, he played a number of previously unreleased tracks. As the concert progressed, people became more engaged and receptive to the artist’s various tracks, a sign that his music was appreciated.

THEHONESTGUY may not be reinventing the R&B formula, but his sincere, honest melodies are sure to please.

POP Montréal is undoubtedly one of the major fall events for true music fans. From Wednesday, September 27 to Sunday, October 1, dozens and dozens of discoveries and acclaims from artists nestled in pop are taking place in Montreal. Follow the PAN M 360 team until Sunday!

Friday l’Entrepôt 77

Thelonious

Straight from Toronto, Thelonious bravely took to the stage of a virtually empty Entrepôt 77. Aided for a few tracks by a guest MC, he delivered a fast, powerful flow of lyrics over rather quiet instrumental tracks. Not averse to swearing, the aggressiveness of the lyrics seemed to convey an expression of personal narrative and committed awareness. The highlight of the performance was Thelonious’s ability to interact with his audience, despite the fact that they arrived in dribs and drabs. He was indeed very communicative with the crowd, whether between songs or between verses, showing a promising potential to hook the Montreal audience. All in all, the artist and his acolytes set the stage well for the hip-hop-filled evening that was to follow.

Blxck Cxsper

As the sun set, Blxck Cxsper took to the stage in solo mode, lights and pre-recorded tracks in tow. Already, the tone was darker and heavier for the opening tracks. The artist’s non-binary identity was an important element of the performance from the outset, an aspect emphasized in particular in the conceptual explanations provided between pieces. Blxck Cxsper has indeed built a whole mythology around their music, where a world of superheroes enhanced with queer references runs through the bilingual lyrics. This world is even expressed through extramusical media such as a comic book and a video game.

Musically, the instrumental tracks sometimes ventured closer to warm jazz, with brass sections to the fore. Blxck Cxsper had a good command of their vocal range, switching easily between high-pitched melodious vocals and lower rap. Nevertheless, there was some friction on the tonal accuracy side, notably between the artist’s vocal performance and the layers of vocals already present in the tracks. This detail only slightly affected the interest of the performance, which was otherwise varied and engaging despite the still small audience.

Shabazz Palaces

When the five members of Shabazz Palaces took to the stage, a whole parallel universe of sound took over. By this time, the crowd had suddenly expanded, ready to bathe in a dynamic continuum of sound. The multi-instrumentalists supporting Ishmael Butler’s rap switched easily between acoustic instruments and synthesizers. Clearly virtuosic, these musicians occasionally moved in perfect synchronicity, an energy that drew the audience into a collective bounce. We heard saxophone, electric bass and electric guitar, all with their own solo during the performance. Butler was also a master of his tools, sometimes creating loops with his voice and transforming all his interactions with the crowd into slams that served as transitions between pieces. He also used the tambourine sparingly and noisily, contributing to the music’s soaring effect. Clearly, the band indulged in a fair amount of improvisation, resulting in a performance distinct from that heard on album. True to form, Shabazz Palaces didn’t serve up any rehash to their audience, who were visibly grateful given the vigorous applauses. A highlight of the festival.

Bahamadia

In front of a warmed-up Entrepôt 77, Bahamadia took to the stage to close the evening, with her hip-hop performed to the highest standards. The soul and funk-infused beats were immediately reminiscent of the 1990s, a musical decade to which she was a contributor. Bahamadia’s rhythmic flow was powerful, precise and generally fast, demonstrating a total mastery of the microphone and the rhymes projected onto it. This continuous flow was also interspersed with interventions from the beatmaker and various vocal interjections, stimulating a dialogue with the audience. With hip-hop in her soul, the pioneer gave a masterful performance. The contrast between the casualness of the instrumental tracks and the intensity of her rap was spot on. The bass lines were particularly present in the sound balance, which further supported a highly contagious movement easily induced in the crowd. It was hard not to bop your head from start to finish under such circumstances.

POP Montréal is undoubtedly one of the major fall events for true music fans. From Wednesday, September 27 to Sunday, October 1, dozens and dozens of discoveries and acclaims from artists nestled in pop are taking place in Montreal. Follow the PAN M 360 team until Sunday!

Bell Orchestre

Following the release of the excellent opus House Music, Bell Orchestre created a symphonic concept in Germany around this corpus. Subsequently, in autumn 2021, the Montreal ensemble performed the material with the OSM. Superb, we recall. And then everyone went about their other professional occupations, we know the painful episode of the last Arcade Fire cycle, Richard Reed Parry once again concentrated on other projects less mainstream than this one. In the process of being created, Bell Orchestre offered a symphonic-free performance at Entrepôt 77 on Thursday, in front of a crowd well-versed in instrumental post-rock… and in the Pop Montréal vibe, which has always been an important stage for this aesthetic.

We’re dealing here with a cohort of experienced performers and improvisers, who have reached a level of excellence on an international scale. The level of each has continued to improve, notably violinist Sarah Neufeld, who occupies an important place in the current cycle. The compositions/improvisations are more mature, and we discover more singularity in the corners, without transgressing the post-rock and post-minimalist foundations of this expression. And so we were treated to a solid performance from the Bell Orchestre, who don’t seem to be on the verge of taking an extended break given their upcoming projects – recording a new album in the coming months.

Sauf les drones

Instrumental post-rock has been around since the 90s, and Sauf les drones (what a great band name!) is one of those musicians whose rock culture just isn’t enough to satisfy them – Godspeed YBE, Sigur Ros and… Bell Orchestre spring to mind. To better nourish themselves, these young musicians integrate elements of post-minimalism and other contemporary music from the classical tradition. More post than rock, Sauf les drones is remarkable for the fullness and calm dominating this expression. In this case, the concern for a collective sound clearly outweighs the individual performances of nonetheless well-educated and professional performers. With keyboards, violin, trombone, drums, bass and electronics, this Montreal sextet has been around since 2017, and today manages to present a coherent and attractive performance, banking on the idea that apparent calm can underlie an intensity far greater than it seems.

Anjimile

In the middle of the program, Anjimile Chithambo suggested a similar approach to the other two, but with a touch of African ancestry – his family hails from Malawi. A second-generation immigrant to the USA, where he grew up and moved around (Dallas, Boston, North Carolina), Anjimile offers a body of skilfully orchestrated songs that don’t take us where we might think at the outset. His biographical profile states: “Anjimile’s songwriting is inspired by everything he’s learned, from the African pop his parents loved, to the youth choir he attended, to the influences of ’80s music and even his contemporaries and fellow 4AD label mate, Big Thief. Thus, the author, composer and performer (guitarist and singer) thwarts clichés by downplaying the groove and banking on a Western culture whose bedrock is the indie folk of the 2000s,renowned for the richness of its arrangements and its concern for melodic limpidity. Prolific since 2015, he has already released 5 albums, including the recent The King on 4AD.”

POP Montréal is undoubtedly one of the major fall events for true music fans. From Wednesday, September 27 to Sunday, October 1, dozens and dozens of discoveries and acclaims from artists nestled in pop are taking place in Montreal. Follow the PAN M 360 team until Sunday!

Thursday Evening at Piccolo Rialto 

Loraine James 

Loraine James has just released Gentle Confrontation, a 16-track album on the Hyperdub label. That’s pretty much what it was all about on Thursday night at Piccolo Rialto. Hailing from the UK, the producer and DJ had shone at last year’s MUTEK, and this time she migrated to Pop Montreal to present a thoroughly conclusive set. The material of Gentle Confrontation was not duplicated on stage; instead, the musician opted for an inspired re-reading of this material. The more conceptual elements of the album are set aside in favor of an energetic approach, given the context of a set presented at 1 a.m. in a nightclub setting.

The foundation of this material lies in the contrast between rhythmic machine-gun fireworks in the tradition of Afro-British electronic culture (jungle, dub, drum N bass, dubstep, grime) and “orchestral” counterparts featuring rich harmonies and gentle melodies, sometimes vocal, that are at once tributary to soul, modern classical music and electronic ambient. The key to this brilliant art lies in the dialectic between these muscular pulsations and the ethereal music that hovers over them. Some of this tension is exaggerated, with too much percussion confronting melodic-harmonic voluptuousness.

Kate NV

The previous set on the program was by Russian producer Kate NV alias Katya Shilonosova, a program that was certainly electronic, but more pop and even traversed with jazz-world harmonies, involving various on-stage manipulations. Her biographical profile indicates that the 30-year-old studies architecture creates “curious and colorful” characters and improvises live with various gizmos such as bells and toy synthesizers. Kate NV’s universe is clearly linked to childhood, to phantasmagorical worlds where sounds are at the heart of wonder. That said, we’re not exclusively in the world of childhood, as beefier beats and more complex harmonies come into play, leading to the conclusion that Kate NV has notions of instrumental composition in addition to being the electro producer of an original if not at times disheveled, corpus.

LaFHomme

First up was LaFHomme, a visibly gender-neutral artist from Montreal, who presented a dynamic set with Afro-British and soul/R&B influences. Jungle/drum’n’bass rhythms alternated with typical soul harmonies and melodies. In short, quality is the order of the day in this nice set, but we’re left to conclude that it’s more a case of synthesizing than asserting singularity – musically at least.

La grange is a multi-faceted project. A mix of theatrical performance, concert and installation, the audience was drawn in and held captive for the entire hour of the event. As soon as you enter the Bain Mathieu, you’re greeted by a subdued atmosphere. The entire basin of the former swimming pool had been converted to accommodate the concert. Every element of the decor has been carefully thought out to help evoke the famous barn that gives Félix-Antoine Coutu’s work its title. Bicycle wheels, wooden shelves and pieces of fabric rubbed shoulders with amplification equipment, cathode-ray screens and musical instruments. Nothing seemed out of place in this set, which perfectly evokes a space filled with objects from another time, with which the protagonist must come to terms (in every sense of the word). The audience, for its part, is positioned high up around the pool. This gives the impression of observing the microcosm of the barn from above. The staging was conceived in collaboration with Collectif Tôle, which specializes mainly in theatre.

In an interview with PAN M 360 earlier this week, composer Félix-Antoine Coutu talked about his invented instruments. We got to see them at work tonight, in all their detail. Motors vibrated strings at different speeds, producing different chords and drone effects. You really have to see these devices to fully appreciate Coutu’s ingenuity. Electronic and acoustic instruments blended perfectly to create an uncluttered soundtrack, despite the presence of 8 instrumentalists. La grange is above all a work that evokes moods. We sense that something is in the making and that time is inexorably passing. Not only does Coutu perform musically, with his electronic instruments, but he also offers a theatrical performance. His playing is subtle, nuanced and silent (the narrative is evoked solely by the music, as well as by a digital program available by scanning a QR code as you enter the theatre). All the character’s psychology is conveyed through simple gestures and evocative glances.

The work is divided into several tableaux, distinguished by subtle changes in lighting and instrumentation. The protagonist, Jude, barn janitor and inventor, played by Félix-Antoine Coutu himself, wanders through the set, focusing his attention on various elements. His goal is to get the drone he’s working on off the ground. Each tableau has a distinct mood, moving from contemplation to anticipation, from anxiety to hope. The stage presence of the 7 other musicians is also to be commended. A small chamber orchestra consisting of percussion, piano, flute, saxophone, bass clarinet, violin and cello is gradually added to the electronic instruments to build and intensify the musical structure, leading to the work’s climax. These are excellent performers (members of Duo Airs and the Paramirabo ensemble), each mastering multiple contemporary techniques. There are some fine musical moments, both tense and melodic. The soundtrack at times resembles ambient music, at others even film music.

La grange is truly an extraordinary event. For an hour, you feel detached from the world, out of time. A must-see performance!

Two performances will take place on September 30 at Bain Mathieu, at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. INFO AND TICKETS HERE.

The Dover Quartet is in Montreal, and offered on Wednesday evening a masterclass in the art of string quartet composition through the great musical eras, with Haydn, Florence Price and Shostakovich on the program. A journey through time that teaches us a great deal about the evolution of chamber music, with a formidably virtuoso ensemble.

The Dover Quartet enjoys an excellent international reputation, and it’s easy to see why. Haydn’s Quartet in G minor, Op. 74 No. 3, more commonly known as “The Cavalier” because of its galloping last movement, is performed with lightning precision. We applaud the virtuosity in the speed and the sensitivity in the largesse of the slower movements.

The concert was animated by contrasts. In the Haydn, it was the contrast between fast and slow movements. Florence Price’s String Quartet no. 1 in G major contrasted with the way it was composed. Whereas Haydn’s classical tradition built the quartet essentially around a virtuoso first violin and three other supporting instruments, Price gives a more balanced treatment to each instrument. The counterpoint is much more developed and complex, even overly so at times, but is marked out by interesting harmonic ideas. The beauty of Price’s music lies in its particular motifs, often inspired by music of popular origin. The second movement is absolutely fantastic in this respect, with a pizzicato passage reminiscent of a walking bass.

Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 9 in E flat major once again changes the fundamental structure of this musical form. Superimposed motifs, sometimes in tune, often out of tune, create a palpable tension. The ensemble wonderfully reproduces the intensity and violence of the emotions that the composer transcribed onto the score. In a cloud of resin and horsehair, the Dover Quartet ended this work brimming with introspective, unsettling creativity.

With a masterful touch, the Dover Quartet demonstrated all the virtuosity, lyricism and intensity that the string quartet repertoire has to offer. The quality of the ensemble’s sonorities are works in themselves. We look forward to seeing them live again!

Yesterday afternoon was back-to-school day at the Chapelle historique du Bon Pasteur. Oh, of course, not at the Chapelle historique. Repairs to the building following the fire on May 25 haven’t even begun yet. Instead, programming and administration for the 2023-2024 season (at least) will take refuge in the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s Salle Paul-Desmarais. And so it was yesterday that this season “in exile” was inaugurated with an exceptional recital by an artist also in exile, Ukrainian-born pianist Olga Kudriakova.

Kudriakova arrived in Montreal in August 2022 with her (Russian) husband and luggage, fleeing the war and repression in Ukraine. The young lady was already at the height of her career when the Russian invasion began: a teacher and concert performer, she already had several competition prizes up her sleeve and a reputation that was beginning to spread. She had to leave everything behind when she fled, but not for long. As soon as she arrived in Montreal, she was noticed quickly and decisively began to take her place in the cultural metropolis’ artistic ecosystem. So much so that, barely a year after settling into her new home, the lady is admired by an ever-growing number of music lovers and has been invited to give the inaugural recital at la Chapelle, a noble cultural institution if ever there was one here. She even graces the cover of the autumn season program.

Radio-Canada did an interview with Olga Kudryakova and her husband Maxim Chatalkine shortly after their arrival in Montreal (in French).

What’s more, she is extremely dynamic: she has set up a foundation to support the musical education of young Ukrainians who had to interrupt their studies because of the war, and she has just helped to create a new recital space called Dissonances Studio, which will offer renewed classical concert experiences by subscription. In the style of friendly 19th-century salons and in an unconventional space, curious onlookers and music lovers will be able to bring their own food and drink and attend concerts in a relaxed and open atmosphere. The small size of the space means that contact between artists and audiences will be very intimate. The initiator of the project, Mathieu Baribeau, has been dreaming of this for over 20 years. So he invested his own money to put the place in order and buy a beautiful Bechstein D282 piano. In short, Olga Kudriakova knows how to surround herself and get noticed!

Two exiles, then, la Chapelle and Olga Kudriakova, whose destiny made them partners in resilience in a concert that was utterly memorable. As regulars of the Chapelle, we were initially delighted to enter the Canadian Centre for Architecture’s Paul-Desmarais hall, a room of beautiful classical rectangular configuration, with a beautifully wooded stage and a warm amber colour. The Fazioli piano, rescued from the fire, sits proudly and, from the very first notes, sounds magnificent (meticulously restored by the indispensable Oliver Esmonde-White).

And let’s talk about the notes! An all-Romantic program, a reservoir of delicate textures and powerful sonorities, was in the spotlight. Schubert’s four Impromptus D.899 got the ball rolling. My concert companion, a connoisseur of the work, was taken by surprise by the limpid, almost Baroque vision of the interpretation, stripped of too much roundness. I’m already under Kudriakova’s spell because I know that this clarity of discourse is a particularity of the young pianist and that she never forgets the emotional charge of the music. Then the miracle happens: a musical architecture drawn with a fine point is imbued, subtly, with a delicate blanket of emotions, simply because we understand perfectly where each phrase is heading and what it wants to express. There are very few (extremely rare) technical flaws in the newly Montreal-based artist’s fingering, so much so that it’s a delight to listen to all those superb pearled notes percolating through the auditorium’s sound space. Especially since the acoustics are so good. We applaud warmly.

This is followed by the Prelude from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, in a transcription by Ernest Schelling, an appetizer that serves as a textural buffer between the preceding Schubertian flutterings and Franz Liszt’s monumental, tempestuous Sonata in B minor, S.178. Once again, Kudriakova’s technical clarity and her remarkable mastery of the discourse of the works she plays transform a musical performance into a moment of communion, where even the most profane of spectators would manage to follow the Lisztian convolutions without getting lost! With her perfectly balanced skeleton, the pianist inserts a spiritual substance, sonic muscle and palpable emotional flesh that amaze the senses of the large audience (the hall was packed, even almost twice as big as the Chapelle).

I predict that the hall in question will quickly be adopted by the public. In fact, once the Chapelle has returned to its usual quarters, we can only dream of regular seasons of chamber music in due form, as a legacy of this new collaboration! Up until now, it has mainly been used for conferences. I think this use will have to be musically fleshed out for a sustainable future.

If I were morbidly cynical, I’d say that Olga Kudriakova’s presence in Montreal is perhaps the greatest gift Vladimir Putin and his stupid war could have given us. Otherwise, what possible reason could there have been for such a great and beautiful artist to move here? But now that this has happened, let’s give her immense talent our unstinting support and help her reach her full potential. Olga Kudriakova is one of the great new-generation pianists on the planet today. I dare to declare it. I put my reputation on the line. That’s just the way it is.

Les Violons du Roy kicked off their Montreal season on Sunday afternoon at the Maison Symphonique. It was the third performance of this concert, after the first two at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City, and a work of a very particular form.

La Senna festeggiante is a serenade, a form straddling the divide between (pagan) cantata and opera, which praises France through a sometimes subtle, sometimes less so, allegory built around three characters embodied by the three soloists: soprano Robin Johannsen, mezzo-soprano Ana Reinhold and bass Alex Rosen.

These soloists were fantastic, transporting the audience to the banks of the Seine with enchanting duets from the female voices, and powerful arias from Rosen, reminiscent at times of Italian bouffes. The orchestra was also of high quality. Behind the minimalist direction of conductor Jonathan Cohen, who was often busy on the harpsichord, the musicians’ hard work and rigour were evident. With a smaller orchestra than we are used to hearing at the Maison Symphonique, we may regret the rather low volume, which evokes the atmosphere of a salon of the period, but which is ill-suited to the hall. As for the score, it is typical of Vivaldi. The structure of his melodies is clearly recognizable, as are a few borrowings from his earlier compositions. The references to the French music of the period, notably in the French overture, are also noteworthy.

Les Violons’ forthcoming season augurs well. We hope to find them in a more intimate and suitable setting for their next concert, but we can only congratulate the ensemble on a superb performance!