No respite for the Nice Opera during this Christmas season, often reduced to its festive aspects only: “The Voices of Tomorrow” is already announced, a Master Class with young and talented artists, led by Soprano Elisabeth Vidal on December 21st and the production of “The Tales of Hoffmann” by Offenbach in early January, where Soprano Annick Massis will perform four roles in the score.
In the meantime, the adult and children’s Choirs of the Nice Opera – let us acknowledge here the achievements of its Director, Giulio Magnanini – offered a magnificent program of “Motets for the Christmas Season” on the evening of Friday, December 12, 2008. A “Plainchant” titled “Hodie Christus Natus Est” (Today Christ is Born), an anonymous score inspired by the liturgies of the Catholic Church followed by an “Ave Maria” by Ernest Chausson, two pieces where the children’s choirs trained by Philippe Négrel were conducted “meticoloso” by Hervé Niquet. Organist, harpsichordist, pianist, singer, and composer, this former répétiteur at the Paris National Opera founded in 1987 the instrumental and vocal Ensemble, the “Concert Spirituel,” specialized in sacred repertoire and in Baroque works, also nominated for the Grammy Awards.
A masterful direction where the wavy movement of the arm and hand – one invariably thinks of Pierre Boulez’s remarks on the “liberation of the hand and fingers” when the conductor leads without a baton – does not preclude the impressive precision of an almost millimetric finger gesture, indicating, for example, the tempo of the conclusion by a tiny loop that seems to close on itself. “Bene” repeatedly exclaims the visibly satisfied maestro to the young performers, some of whom, the youngest ones, almost disappear behind the large sheets of their scores.
This production allowed the audience to hear composers like Emile Paladilhe, Léo Delibes – whose “Lakmé” is scheduled at the Nice Opera in March 2009 -, Charles Gounod, and Camille Saint-Saëns. Particularly noteworthy was the “O Salutaris” by Théodore Dubois for male voices: a song of sublime sound beauty, with accents seemingly inspired by Gounod’s “Mors et Vita” and foreshadowing some of Fauré’s melodies. Indeed, Théodore Dubois would succeed the first at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1894 and leave the second his position as Master of the Chapel at the Church of the Madeleine, after being appointed Grand Organist. Also worth mentioning is the superb “Ave Maris Stella” by Léo Delibes: following a delicate piano introduction (Sébastien Driant) to which the organ (Jean-Cyrille Gaudillet) responds, the women’s voices sing with infinite modulations the praises to the Virgin, “Star of the sea.”
“The Christmas Oratorio” by Camille Saint-Saëns revealed, in the second part, a light orchestral formation mostly composed of strings, accompanied by a harp (Magalie Pyka de Coster) and a double bass (Jean-Marie Marillier): it offers, as an introduction, a pleasant melody, which, before being reprised in the slow and majestic finale of a “Hallelujah” rich with organ force and string tremolo, leads to a brief yet intense darker passage of the violins and an unforgettable duet between the harp and the voices.
The voices, let’s note in passing, were quite uneven among the soloists, and by pure chance of casting, more moving in the intermediate than extreme ranges: the beautiful highs of Soprano Yoon Jung Chang were often expressed at the expense of the pronunciation of sacred words, whereas the very sensual vocal accents of Mezzo-soprano Christina Greco added emotion to each of her interventions in the “Oratorio,” Baritone Ioan Hotensche was also very vocally and emotionally invested – note his admirable solo in Théodore Dubois’ “Laudate Dominum” – while Tenor Thomas You struggled despite visible efforts. Human voices, as mysteriously impenetrable as “those” of the Lord.
