Go for Baroque! - Monday, 6 October

So, continuing the story of my adventures in the rain!

Tonight it was the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir under the direction of Sir John Elliot Gardiner – so exciting – I’ve not heard them in person before. They were performing one night only at the concert hall at Cité de la Musique in the northeast of Paris (more about that huge entertainment complex later) and I was able to nab a seat back in July. (The best “acts” come through Paris, and you often need to book early!)

Given the delay in obtaining a cab (see my previous post) and the traffic congestion from the rain, the trip took longer than I anticipated. And I was drenched when I arrived. The concert had already started, but an usher kindly turned on the sound on the monitor in the bar! It didn’t approach being inside to hear the exquisite Monteverdi Choir singing the Scarlatti Stabat Mater a cappella, but I was able to settle down, get something of a sense of their performance, use the “facilities,” dry out a bit and comb the wet tangles out of my hair before inflicting my messy self on my neighbors in the hall.

Pretty soon it was intermission, the first portion of the concert being significantly shorter than the second. As everywhere, streams of patrons came flowing out to get their tokens from the ushers before grabbing an intermission snack/drink. Wait, what? Get tokens? Yup, the ushers were standing at the doors with grey fabric shoulder bags containing blue rectangular “chips” and giving one to each person. I’m guessing that these were collected to identify ticket holders after intermission, preventing opportunists from sneaking in for just the second half of the concert. Hmmm. Wonder if someone heard me suggesting such a strategy to a friend recently. Not that I would really do it, but, it must be a “thing” elsewhere!

The first post-intermission piece was Bach’s Cantata Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut (“My heart swims in blood”) BWV 199, with unusual scoring for soprano (no chorus), oboe, two violins, viola and basso continuo.  An absolutely stunning young soprano from the Monteverdi Choir (her name was, unfortunately, not identified in the program) sang with controlled power and exquisite phrasing.  The text is a lament for and confession of sins, a petition for God’s mercy, and an eventual expression of joy in the knowledge of forgiveness and restoration. Her singing and the instrumentalists’ playing (especially the oboist’s gorgeous lines) seemed to me to be a perfect match for Bach’s style. It was a very moving performance.

Then finally, Handel’s Dixit Dominus (“The Lord said”) HWV 232, a setting of Psalm 109, for chorus, soloists and orchestra. Holy moley! I have never heard such clear and crisp articulation of the text from a chorus. The instrumentalists sitting in front of them must have become moist from the sprays of saliva on the consonants! In some spots a few of the men produced sounds that I can only compare to flutter tonguing on a wind instrument. Yet none of this came across as gimmicky – the musicality and continuity of the performance was so solid that these techniques fit the text perfectly and just flowed naturally. Solo, duet and trio sections for some of the singers and for some of the instrumentalists were also performed very effectively. Although I don’t know this piece from the inside (gotta learn it!), it is clearly very complex. Yet chorus and orchestra (and remember these are period instruments they’re playing) delivered a very moving and effective performance. The audience called them back for many bows, using unison "euro-clapping," regular clapping, and many shouts of "bravo!" 

Now for a few words about this concert hall and the area it's in. Over the past few decades the city of Paris has been developing this new entertainment area, Cité de la Musique, in the 19^th arrondissement in the northeast of Paris. It contains an amphitheater, this 1,000-seat concert hall, a museum, a café, and a Harmonium Mundi music store. The Paris Conservatory is just down the street.

You might be able to tell from this photo that all of the chairs on the main floor of the concert hall are attached to platforms where even the first row is about 4 inches above the floor, presumably to allow them to easily rearrange seating (but still keep tidy rows and assigned seats) for various purposes. Oddly, these platforms didn’t sound hollow when people walked on their aisles or rows – they must be well insulated. Pretty cool, hey?

A new large concert hall for the Orchestre de Paris (they’ll depart Salle Pleyel in the 8^th arrondissement) has been under construction in this complex for about 5 years. It’s called the Philharmonie de Paris and is expected to cost about 170 million euro (or $215 million), was designed by Jean Nouvel (who designed the new Guthrie “blue box”), will seat about 2,400, and will open in January 2015 with a gala concert featuring my favorite pianist Hélène Grumaud (oh, what a party that will be!). I quite intensely dislike the Guthrie, but the drawings of this new Philharmonie look pretty impressive!  You can find some wonderful construction photos showing progress over the months at this site:  http://www.philharmoniedeparis.fr/fr/nouveau-batiment/au-fil-du-chantier

The traffic congestion in the area was just terrible. I’m wondering if there’s anything they can/will do about it before the new Philharmonie de Paris opens. As it is, taxi access is very difficult. Métro station Porte de Pantin is just on the perimeter of the Cité de la Musique, and this being Paris, it’s likely that most people will arrive by Métro.  Few are likely to arrive on foot given the distance out from the center of the city and the slightly dicey neighborhood.

The new Philharmonie de Paris exterior drawing

The new Philharmonie de Paris interior drawing