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!

This concert by the Orchestre jazz des diplômés-es de l’Université de Montréal left its academic mark on the local music scene, with eminent double bassist Ron Carter as the first inaugural guest. The atmosphere at Théâtre Maisonneuve was warm and inviting, with the audience mainly made up of friends, big band family members and music enthusiasts attracted by the concept: the best graduates would perform with the great Ron Carter.

However… Although the set list consisted mainly of Mr. Carter’s original works, arranged by Rich de Rosa and very well played by the orchestra, it was a rather conservative affair, at the very least academic. Very little out of step, in fact, with what one might have heard from a very good modern jazz big band in the ’50s and early ’60s.

Highlights included the lyrical “Little Waltz” and “Ah, Rio”, a bossa nova-inspired composition that was a bit of a game-changer. Although the performance was technically impressive, it felt a little dated, especially considering Ron Carter’s influential role in jazz history – mostly as a performer, very little as a composer. Carter was a leading sideman and player in many movements that pushed the boundaries of jazz and even hip-hop, so it would have been interesting to see a selection of more contemporary and innovative compositions.

Another drawback of the evening was the sound balance. The bass seemed to dominate the mix, sometimes overshadowing the other instruments. While it was undeniably pleasing to hear Mr. Carter’s masterful bass playing, the instrument’s unnaturally high position in the mix prevented full appreciation of the ensemble’s nuances.

Nevertheless, it is essential to recognize the exceptional talent on display last night. Whatever one thinks of it, this concert was an excellent showcase for our own musical masters here in Montreal, highlighting their undeniable skills and dedication to their art.

In fact, it would be pointless and unfair to single out one musician in particular, since all had the opportunity to shine throughout the evening, including Mr. Ron Di Lauro, illustrious U de M professor recently retired after 25 years of loyal service at the helm of this university big band and more.

Before bowing out, he brought out his trumpet for a happy “Little Waltz”.