Choirs on the other hand is directly moving

Bruno Mantovani, thirty-two years on 8 October next, this fall, the child cherished festivals: Piano to the Jacobins in Toulouse, Besancon and Musica in Strasbourg, which paints a result picture. With several works, including two creations, the "Cantata No. 1" and one opera, "the other side".

The program of the concert of the Ensemble 2e2m, therefore, though the pleasant "pinocchio." "una storia parallela" Lucia Ronchetti, and that the agreed concerto for trombone to Aureliano Cattaneo, this "Cantata" on poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, for six singers and little training. A nothing too long, it is required by its density, permanent tension generated by a set of violent contrasts. The Neue Vocalsolisten are breathtaking, sovereign dans their intonation, musical discipline, their expressive power.

Command the Opera du Rhin, the State and the lyrical creation Fund, "The other side" is based on a novel by Alfred Kubin (1877-1959). A disturbing personality of this artist buffeted between writing and painting. disconcerting, his story, masterpiece of fantasy, conte size then the destruction of the Empire of dreams. Patera, head of this universe that sees the refusal of the progress the source of happiness, is only a dictator; He will be defeated by the American Hercules Bell, but it will only bring Chaos. Witness to this decay, the Narrator, Kubin himself.

A magnificent Orchestra

Despite concern very clear diversification (linear and often syllabic for men, more flexible and with women), the vocal writing, which arises from spoken language and, at the end, fades before him, stumbling, but on the pitfall that threatens permanent contemporary lyrical art: the monotony. As if the fear of the melody and the air agreements had a chilling effect. Choirs, on the other hand, is directly moving. And the Orchestra, busy, rich in percussion, is magnificent. Can that be bluffé by this incessant transformation of the sound material, which ensures the ductility of the speech, these metamorphoses, these variations of textures, colours, dynamics, and this intensity which, as in the Cantata, keeps the listener alert. Not yielding to the bulky references, failing at any price, Mantovani is simply himself.

Fluid staging

Designed as a flashback, the work is taking. And securely interpreted. Fabrice Dalis slips effortlessly into the skin of Kubin; a tenor voice which displays a certain bitterness, he assumes the excitement, torment, fear and lucidity. Countertenor thankless patch, Robert Expert camped not without little reassuring medical Lampenbogen skill. It would have taken to Jean-Loup Pagésy more weight in the registry to really embody Patera. Maryline Fallot is a fragile wife of Kubin, Sylvia Vadimova an editor is not without charm. Responsible for several roles, including those critical of the American, Lionel Peintre proves once again that it is one of the best singers-actors of the time; the voice is full and sound, diction impeccable and sharp, the theatrical game knows brake before falling in excess. The local Philharmonic Orchestra, to which the Percussions de Strasbourg, joined sounds gloriously under the very strict and not always nuanced of Bernhard Kontarsky baton.

The staging of Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, clear, fluid, creative atmosphere, is for much of this success. Operator with natural perpetually tense drama of the libretto of François Regnault and the music, it puts the listener in condition and the more loose. When the intermission, was looking forward to the suite. Dark and sober and timeless scenery and lighting of Yves Collet as Corinne Baudelot costumes reinforce the impression of malaise.

It has not finished in with Mantovani: on 7 November, at the Cité de la musique, Pierre Boulez will lead the first hearing of "Streets". Follow closely.