Last night, the Festival du Monde Arabe in Montreal presented a concert by the Ensemble Golshan, a group of excellent musicians from the Montreal music scene. On the menu: a gentle, poetic journey through classical Persia (Iran) in the 19th and 20th centuries. No, Persia (Iran) is not Arabic, I know. Nevertheless…

Persian classical music, like its Western cousin, is often organized according to very formal structures. If we dare make a comparison, we could say that all the pieces on the programme were structured along the lines of an introduction and dance. A slow, atmospheric first part, largely improvised, gave way to a fast, rhythmically assertive second. That said, even the more energetic sections exuded a feeling of serenity and beneficial abandon. This very accessible example of Iranian art music offered listeners some fine instrumental exchanges as well as some very seductive vocal passages (interpreted with finesse by Habib Hoseini’s buoyant, tonally balanced voice. Habib Hoseini has a lovely tenor with a nicely filled-out bass for lyrical effect). In theory, the sharp tones of the tar and kamancheh should be balanced by the mellower, warmer timbre of the oud. Yesterday, the oud was very discreet. Too much, in fact, I would have liked more. A detail that could be remedied by a differently calibrated sound amplification.

All in all, it was an evening of fine musical refinement, offered by musicians who do honour to Montreal by having chosen it (for the most part) as their artistic adoptive home. I’d like to highlight the work of Saeed Kamjoo on kamancheh (also director of the ensemble), Ziya Tabassian on percussion (tombak, daf), Hamed Vatankhah on oud, Maryam Tazhdeh on târ and Habib Hoseini on classical Persian singing.

Photo credit: Mohand Belmellat

Families and children were invited to the Maison symphonique on Sunday afternoon for a show filled with magic, humour and, above all, music. The OSM’s Halloween concert, “Wizards and Witches”, enchanted young and old alike with relevant and evocative musical pieces, as well as a playful and charming staging.

The OSM, conducted by Cosette Justo Valdés, presented a program that blended famous works from the classical and film repertoires, such as the opening Harry Potter theme (Hedwige’s) and excerpts from Paul Dukas’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Camille Saint-Saëns’s Danse macabre, as well as less conventional pieces, such as Richard Wagner’s Overture to The Flying Dutchman, or an excerpt from Modeste Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, the ninth picture evoking the witch Baba Yaga (from Slavic folklore). The concert closes with the fifth movement of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, which the OSM performed last year at the end of the season, largely because it evokes the Witches’ Sabbath.

The works were linked by the staging created by Les ateliers d’Amélie, with lead actor Olivier Morin, who charmed the audience with his Harry Potter-inspired character of a master magician. He takes the audience through his life, from his service as a sailor to meeting his beloved and grieving years later. The choreography is pleasant and interesting, especially during the waltz passage (Mussorgsky) where the actors move through the Maison symphonique, visiting the octobass and the chorus. The text elicits plenty of laughter from the audience, and occasional surprises thanks to stage effects such as lighting and smoke effects, which are timely and very well done.

Musically, the quality of the performance is exemplary. One might even go so far as to say that the version of Hedwige’s theme is better than the original. The works presented or evoked are perfectly mastered by the orchestra, who have surely played them dozens of times before, at least.

It’s worth noting that the program is a little tightly woven, and some of the pieces seem forced in the staging. Also, the works of Dukas and Saint-Saëns are reduced to brief, simplistic evocations. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice goes far beyond a dancing broom! The staging did much to keep the children’s attention, but we felt that the audience was more attentive during the well-known pieces (Harry Potter) and a little less so on the more abstract works (Wagner and Mussorgsky, for example). It would also seem to have been a missed opportunity to include an educational aspect to the concert. Efforts at mediation were limited to brief images and riddles on the pre-concert screen, which were quite appreciated by families.

This is, however, the thinking of someone whose concerns are slightly different from the target audience. The concert was a success, and we salute the quality of the music and staging. We hope next year will be just as good!

To find out more about OSM concerts and youth concerts, visit the programming page HERE.

After a decade’s absence, the last of the sacred monsters of French variety triumphed last Friday at Montreal’s Bell Centre. Nostalgia when you hold us…

Accompanied by his 20-year-old daughter, who had only heard Louane’s beautiful cover of “Je vole,” popularized by the film La famille bélier, and “Comme d’habitude” (a Claude François and Elvis version), the author of these lines was not going to miss this artist, who remains probably one of the four or five most beautiful voices in the French-speaking world, along with Claude Dubois.

The recital opens with an animated panorama of a magnificent white horse galloping across the Irish plains. From the first notes of the lively “Les Lacs du Connemara,” it’s clear that we’re in Ireland. A successful, albeit short, version of this must-have song from the Sardoussian repertoire. This summer, the song became the subject of controversy when Juliette Armanet declared in an interview for a Belgian radio station that the song would drive her away from a party… A huge controversy to which the 76-year-old singer refused to respond, before apologizing privately by e-mail.

It’s true that breaking Sardou’s back was for a long time an obligatory part of left-wing politics, but we thought those days were over. In fact, the old crooner covered a mixture of his greatest hits, including the irresistible “En chantant…” ” Et c’est tellement plus mignon, de se faire traiter de con, en chansons…” to the delight of the largely white-headed crowd, who were quick to sing along in unison.

Rumour has it that Sardou, with “En chantant,” was responding to the young Renaud who had made fun of him by parodying another song: “Les Ricains.” An excellent cover of the latter song (here in Cajun style with banjo), drawn from the more committed era when Sardou had the audacity, or the courage, to remind the French who were demonstrating, quite rightly, against the Vietnam War, that without the Amerloques, they’d all be in Germania “saluting you know who…”. A powerful punchline that, from memory, doesn’t appear quite like that in the recorded versions.

While the re-orchestrations are generally successful, some pieces don’t stand up to the test of time as well, like this spoken version of “Je vole” or “Une fille aux yeux clairs,” a eulogy of a mother by her son that unsettled my young companion, causing her to declare: “But that’s downright incest, I’m disgusted. Fortunately, Sardou regains his grace with his next piece, “Le Privilège,” which is empathetic towards a young man who reveals his homosexuality.

Sprinkled with a few songs that may or may not be familiar to Quebec audiences, Sardou made some undeniable winks at us, notably by always talking about Quebec, and not Canada, as the French often do when referring to their cousins in America…

Flashbacks

Strangely enough, while the gruffest of singers graced us with “La rivière de notre enfance,” without Garou who was… in France, he didn’t perform “Je me souviens d’un adieu,” another very catchy track, which is nevertheless the name of the tour.

Among the highlights were “Vladimir Ilitch,” a song about the sirens of communism in which a screen overhanging the stage shows a huge statue of Lenin in slow decomposition, an all-too-short extract from the exutory “Le France,” and a rereading of “Verdun” and its wartime slide show, which resonated particularly strongly in view of current events in Ukraine and the Middle East. A reprise of “Quelque chose de Tennessee,” as if to make amends with Johnny, with whom he had no time to reconcile. But the apotheosis was reached when Sardou, convincing, threw down his hymn “Je vais t’aimer,” whose powerful images were highlighted by jolting brass.

Lighter moments with the cartoonish “Être une femme,” and also by revealing that he discovered one day in a record shop that the great Louis Armstrong had covered a song by his father, Fernand Sardou, actor and jazz singer, “Aujourd’hui peut-être,” which he performed for us with obvious pride.

In short, it was a very pleasant evening of nostalgia and charisma, despite a few cheesy moments, including some 1980s-style backing vocals. And, above all, we’ll remember that he was no slouch in bringing a team of over 20 people, just for the stage, including a fine brass section and no less impressive a choir. As for the verdict of the Lady Gaga and Sia fan who accompanied me: ” Decent. Very decent.”

Anthony Marwood and Les Violons du Roy visited Salle Bourgie on Friday evening for a concert featuring some rather unusual works, but which after listening to them in the company of these seasoned musicians, will certainly occupy a greater place in people’s memories.

Marwood makes a great impression on stage. His powerful playing and showmanship make him an exciting and enjoyable concertmaster. He performs virtuoso and, above all, highly charged melodic lines with brio and skill. During the second piece, by Mendelssohn, he conducted as a soloist, and his humble, confident presence seemed to center the orchestra around him. There can be no doubt about the quality of Les Violons du Roy’s musicians. Each section performed the often highly complex scores of the three works presented with accuracy and intensity, even in support. Isaac Chalk’s exemplary work on the viola was also noteworthy, with large solo sections in the last piece, whose sonorities were almost reminiscent of a full wind section.

What can we say about the works performed? We can start with the fact that all three works were composed during the youth of all three composers. The first work, Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings in E minor, was composed in 1892 at the age of 35 and predates his final musical maturation. It’s an uplifting, almost intoxicating work that sweeps you away with its enchanting largesse and sonorities. The second work, composed at the age of 13 by Felix Mendelssohn, is the Concerto for Violin and Strings No. 1 from 1822. The composition is simpler and more formal, but there is an energy and intensity both for the soloist and the surrounding orchestra. The style is almost classical (Mendelssohn had clearly not yet acquired his own style), but one senses the near emergence of a new language.

The final work is more paradoxical. Georges Enescu’s Octet in C major, fabulously arranged by none other than Anthony Marwood, bears witness to the ardour and ambition of the young composer who wrote it. Enescu was 19 in 1900, the date of the composition, and he clearly had a lot to say. Perhaps too much, because it’s easy to lose track of all the different ideas presented to us. The musical ideas are very interesting, but the note overload and lack of continuity leave the listener a little at a loss. It’s a work of quality, but it also shows that, sometimes, trying to say too much means saying too little in the end.

All in all, this was a very successful concert for Les Violons du Roy. Salle Bourgie is indeed well suited to this format and this ensemble. We hope to hear more of them in the future!

For more info about the Violon du Roy’s programming, click HERE.