B’Rock Orchestra, Namur Chamber Choir and the Little Singers of the ORCAM, present in concert version at the Teatro Real the great title of Georges Bizet, a unique work, due to its very peculiar dramatic and musical characteristics; inventor of a style that became exhausted in itself, after having used a name that in its time grouped together works of which History of the Gypsy stood out; That was called “comique”, not because it was a funny comedy, or buffa, but because it opposed the emphasis of French opera at the time. explains it very well Rene Jacob, the director and responsible for a restitution of the original score with as good reasons from a musicological and philological point of view as both the imposition of a radical purism and the tone chosen to conduct the orchestra are debatable. Let us accept the relevance of his defense of the recovered details, but it is difficult to understand the suppression of the emblematic number par excellence, the very famous habanera, which Jacob despises for abstruse psychological reasons. Why does Carmencita “not like” feeling compared to the fluttering of birds?
What is more surprising is the languor, coldness and supposed detail with which Jacob directs his orchestra, remembered in other assignments for its liveliness, beauty and rhythmic and melodic justice. Here he has chosen a sobriety between Jansenist and Cartesian that falls short of communicating the rich complexity of music, while at the same time failing to make the performers take ownership of their characters. Gaëlle Arquez She has a magnificent voice, but her Carmen soars like an Olympic goddess, far removed from the enthusiastic, tender and shameless heartbreak of the female version of Don Juan, and as Spanish as he is. Mr Jose (Francois Rougier) is an apathetic little man without the violence of the crude brigadier, and the bullfighter Escamillo (Thomas Dolié), appears like a fop who looks uncomfortable. When everyone sings the famous song to the freedomequivalent to the intonation at the end of the first act of the Don Giovanni Mozartian, given the disposition of such creatures, it is possible to think that such freedom It does not serve as an energetic and devastating impulse to undertake a brave and eventful existence, but only to be able to choose whether that afternoon they attend a performance of the Opera Comique, go for a walk in the Bois du Boulogna, or appear at the reception of any Madame la Marquise. Only Sabine Devielhe From her not very pleasant voice she achieves a plausible and not childish portrait of the impossible Micaela.
Full house at the Teatro Real, which is always good news. The performance, with a particularly leaden third act, did not excite, but was applauded with respect. As it was a unique function, there was no dilemma of recommending it to friends who had not gotten a ticket.