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A Box of Wonders
Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo,
attended by GIUSEPPE PENNISI
The thirty-first annual festival, Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo (20 March-12 April, every
weekend, normally from Friday or even from Thursday to Sunday), is
currently in progress. Its main feature is to juxtapose contemporary music (often new commissions) with great classics. This year there is an added feature:
there is neither ballet nor opera, but concerts are performed in unusual settings such as the Oceanographic Museum, the Cathedral, the Conseil National (the Parliament of
the Principality) and churches in smaller villages. Then, in parallel
with the music festival, the National Museum carries a major modern art exhibit, and 'street art' from the local Arts Academy is a prologue or an epilogue
to concerts. Unexpectedly, the end of March was cold and rainy; an
indirect incentive to visit art galleries and museums. Finally, to
attract new audience (now around 12,000 each year), the
festival management organizes chamber concerts in private homes before the
start of the event, when artists are already in location for rehearsals.
The inauguration was a very long evening. It started in the Oceanographic Museum
with the world premiere of Deviner/Devenir, two small pieces of
electro acoustics by François Bayle (now eighty-three, one
of the 'founding fathers' of French contemporary music); a very impressive composition based on electronically molded sounds of the sea.
François Bayle. Click on the image for higher resolution
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After this introduction, the audience moved a few metres to the
Cathedral for the first version of Bach's Passion according to St John. The German complex La Petite Bande performed it quite well
under the expert baton of Sigiswald Kuijken. The four young soloists were high quality singers (Lucia Napoli, Stephan Scherpe, Minna
Nyberg and Stefan Vock). However, the Cathedral acoustics left much to be
desired, especially for the audience at the rear of the Church. The freezing cold caused a hemorrhage of
audience after the first part. At the completion of the Passion, back to
the Museum for drinks and snacks with the artists.
La Petite Bande. Click on the image for higher resolution
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On 21 March, two quite well known
compositions by Sibelius (Les Océanides, Op 73 and the Symphony No 3, Op 52) were preceded by Donatoni's Orchesterübung,
a highly dramatic piece from a period when the Italian composer was highly influenced by constructivism
of the Darmstadt School. The concert was performed in the Ranieri III Auditorium. The young conductor, Jean Deroyer, and the Orchestre Philharmonique
de Monte Carlo (OPMC) were really remarkable and fully deserved the
audience's accolades.
The Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra. Click on the image for higher
resolution
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On 23 March, a different concert space again: the very modern and impressive
Grimaldi Forum. The two-part program was structured in a way that the initial
piece was one of new commissions and the rest baroque music by Bach, Buxtehude and Reinken. Of
course, there are some analogies in spite of several centuries of distance; especially, the taste for innovation, fantasia and improvisation. The contemporary parts were performed by
the Ensemble Cairn conducted by Guillaume Bourgogne; the baroque part
by Ensemble Stravaganza.
Ensemble Stravaganza. Click on the image for higher resolution
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Let us focus on the novelties. Nouno's Reverse
is an elegant exercise, admittedly composed 'to fit the space' of the debut and to
use lights and a limited number of projections to develop an atmosphere. Pesson's Carmagnole borrows a
well known song of the French Revolution (La Carmagnole) to make it a box
of wonders. All in all they fitted well with the concert's other
compositions. The audience responded with warm applause.
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