Another concert of French music at the Proms, this time mixing the well-known - Berlioz's Les nuits d'été - with some rarely explored parts of the repertory, in the form of incidental music by Fauré and Bizet. Marc Minkowski and his excellent Musiciens du Louvre-Grenoble are one of the best period instrument bands in the business and, along with mezzo Anne Sofie von Otter, I wouldn't have expected them to have problems bringing in a decent crowd, so it was a shame that the auditorium can't have been much more than a third full.
The programme started with a selection of four numbers from Fauré's incidental music to Edmund Haraucourt's play, Shylock (roughly based on Shakespeare). For those who - perhaps understandably - associate Fauré with pretty and expertly turned chansons and piano works and evocative religious music (the Requiem and his Cantique de Jean Racine, performed at the Proms just over a week ago, for example), these extracts would have come as something of a surprise. The quirky march of the Entr'acte (played first) almost sounded like Prokofiev with its jaunty melodic lines and brass fanfares; it's amazing that, according to Roger Nichols' programme note, this movement was originally performed pianissimo as an accompaniment to dialogue. The calmer second movement was given a beautiful rendition by Minkowski and his players, really letting the pulsing string accompanying figures breathe. He made the most of the Nocturne which followed and his players had a chance to show off their virtuosity in the imaginative finale.
Next on the programme was Berlioz's song-cycle. Anne Sofie von Otter is definitely a class act and she commanded the stage as soon as she appeared - statuesque and impressively blonde, there can't be many singers capable of bringing off a patterned orange dress like she did. Although some of the lower lying parts of the cycle were not that well projected, the middle and top of the voice was in peak condition and she knew it. Against Minkowski's beautifully cool accompaniment she was allowed to show off her formidable technique to stunning effect: the final stanza of 'Le spectre de la rose' was particularly spellbinding, and time seemed to stand still as she span her final phrase out in an almost inaudible pianissimo. She was less convincing in the lower lying 'Sur les Lagunes' but hit the bulls-eye again with 'Absence' with a particularly delicious rendition of the final repeat of the first stanza. On the whole then, this was a wonderfully subtle performance with some exquisite singing, helped no end by Minkowksi's players, who pared their sound down to almost nothing when von Otter's interpretation required.
The second half of the concert was given over to twenty numbers from the Bizet's incidental music to L'Arlesienne. The play, by Alphonse Daudet, was, judging by the synopsis in the programme, no masterpiece. Indeed, the impresario Léon Carvalho commissioned Bizet to write the music for it, saying rather euphemistically that it needed 'lifting'. Of course, some of the numbers, including the Overture, which received a rip-roaring performance here, are well known thanks to a suite that Bizet compiled and re-orchestrated (originally it was all written for a modest pit orchestra) but the rest is something of a rarity. It's a shame because there's some lovely music. However, the fact that nine of the twenty numbers were melodramas - i.e. originally performed as accompaniment to the actual words of the play - meant that there was a feeling of something missing. Minkowski didn't really pause between numbers so despite the best efforts of Richard Langham Smith's excellent synopsis, it was almost impossible to keep track of where we were. The whole point, then, of being able to appreciate Bizet's skill in evoking and enhancing what was going on at that stage in the play was somewhat lost. That said, though, there was a lot of excellent playing from the orchestra, particularly from the wind players (including a saxophone) and the principle horn. A chorus of eight made a couple of contributions and the Farandole was performed with obvious relish.
I suppose necessarily, Bizet had to keep the volume down for a lot of the music he wrote for L'Arlesienne and Minkowski, in announcing the second encore, thanked the audience for remaining so quiet through so much quiet music. The first encore had been another 'quiet' piece, the act three Entr'acte from Carmen featuring some gloriously lyrical playing from flautist Florian Cousin. The next encore was the act four Entr'acte played with such vigour and freshness that I wondered if we'd ever have a period instrument Carmen on record. This also served to whip up the audience into a frenzy which Minkowski capitalised on for a final reprise of the Farandole. The Proms audience, being what it is, joined in with clapping and Minkowski turned gamely to conduct - I wonder if he fancies doing a Last Night?
By Hugo Shirley