CONCERT – In the intimacy of the Salle des Préludes of the Opéra Grand Avignon, tenor Enguerrand de Hys accompanied by pianist Paul Beynet offers a recital centered on French melodies with a religious theme.
Mystical Tales: kesako?
A stone’s throw from the Popes’ Palace, and in the middle of Advent, this evening the Opera is being converted for a recital to sing a few passages from the life of Christ throughout the cycle Mystical Tales. It includes twelve melodies composed by twelve different French composers (Camille Saint-Saëns, Jules Massenet, Gabriel Fauré, Augusta Holmès, etc.). The texts are written by Stéphan Bordèse who widely published these composers in his Durand editions. They are notably based on the apocryphal gospels and follow chronologically the life of Jesus. The cycle is here augmented by a few other melodies from the same period, on the Virgin Mary in particular. There prayer by Jacques de la Presle is given as a reminder. The recital therefore moves from the church to the theater since Enguerrand de Hys and Paul Beynet had already given it this summer at the Chapel of the Grand Couvent of Gramat. They also recorded it for the Rocamadour label.
The (Com)passion of Enguerrand de Hys and Paul Beynet.
In his voice, the tenor takes a distanced but empathetic look towards each element recounted, in particular when he evokes Christ at the heart of the cycle. He thus brings the events to life for the public, not just embellishing them with music. This is particularly striking in the First Miracle of Jesus (Saint-Saëns) where compassion towards the resuscitated leper shines through in the voice or even in The Dream of Jesus where the gravity of abandonment is opposed to the presumed hatred of the Jewish people persecuting Jesus, recounted in the gospel, supported by the power and clarity of the voice. The excellent quality of diction allows us to appreciate the value of each syllable and the (admittedly uneven) interest of the poems. A light but sometimes too omnipresent vibrato slightly blurs the clarity of certain extracts in particular In Prayer by Fauré, a defect that is not found in the recording.
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Paul Beynet’s piano also contributes to the tenderness of the audience through the enveloping atmospheres that it creates. In the Christmas night (piano alone) the play on the rhythm marks the anticipation of the moment into which luminous notes are inserted. This same light is found in the subtle crystalline patterns which star the magnificent Angels Lullaby by Charles Lecoq. This composer and Enguerrand de Hys will very soon be on the bill again at the Opéra Grand Avignon in a more secular repertoire, with Madame Angot’s Daughter.
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