09 setembro 2010

Deixa-me rir...

"Caros audiophiles, this week I offer another experience from the classical Proms season in London. Two days ago had been a long tiring irritating day. During the evening I became distracted and completely forgot that I should be meeting a friend for a late-night concert. I remembered, too late I thought, twenty minutes after it started. I looked out of the window. It was raining furiously like cats and dogs. Like London. Not a night to be outside.
But then I decided that the day would not defeat me. I jumped into my car, luckily found a parking space outside the theatre, ran inside, ignoring the attendant who said I could not enter the auditorium because there was no interval, found my seat and my friend just as the orchestra was finishing tuning their instruments for the next piece of the programme. I had missed half of the concert, had no idea who or what I was coming to hear. But, let me tell you, I became so glad that I made the effort to arrive!

The first musical piece was so serene, so beautiful, that I was immediately transported to a better place, a better disposition. Later I discovered that the composer was Nicola Porpora, a relatively unknown contemporary and rival of Handel and better regarded as the teacher of the famous castrata singer Farinelli. The music was an aria, Alto Giove, from his opera Polifemo. The wonderful counter-tenor singer was Philippe Jaroussky. The musicians were a young Baroque orchestra Ensemble Matheus, led by an exuberant charismatic conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi (who looked like Sean Penn with a sense of humour).

Porpora - "Alto Giove":



So, now I was relaxed. And then the fun began. Jaroussky was joined on stage by a contralto singer Marie-Nicole Lemieux. A large vivacious sensual woman with flaming red hair and turquoise ballgown dress. I say joined, actually she literally ran onto the stage, almost pushing him and the conductor out of the way in her enthusiasm. This was a fun performance of the aria played as if by two competing singers instead of two competing lovers. A joyous victorious finale to my day!

Vivaldi - Orlando Furioso "Nel Profundo Cieco Mondo" (In This Profoundly Blind World)



Enjoy!
A proxima,
PO

5 comentários:

Anónimo disse...

Loved the account of this Prom concert. Your descriptions are so wonderful, so full of funny, subtle details and at the same time with so much information to explore. Loved your initiation into classical music in this blog. Please continue...or not, it's up to you, really... Bjs. pcp

Philip disse...

PCP, what do you mean my initiation? This Phil-istine already posted Prokofiev's Peter & The Wolf! Check out today's revised 2nd video. Joao was unable to upload my original choice so I have now sent him a substitute that includes both singers Jaroussky and Lemieux together as intended in my text. PO

Anónimo disse...

Sorry, P, it's true, I forgot. My mistake. Anyway, you don't write about classical music very often, do you? But please do so more often. It's great. As ever. pcp

Anónimo disse...

Porpora is a discovery, Phils! I will definitely look for "Polifemo" with Jaroussky's participation. Good you decided to fight against the bad mood and found yourself listening to these performances live! kiss

marialemos disse...

Here comes the Londoner post: good music from just around the corner, presented in a humorous way, with rain in between.
Thanks for this.

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