Luigi Cherubini
Collaborative art forms tend to pull one’s attention in multiple directions in ways pure art forms do not. Listening intently to an overture or symphony, for example, is a far different experience than immersion in opera or ballet.
So when an unfamiliar multimedia genre comes along, it can challenge the senses in new ways. Such was the case Friday when the Alabama Symphony and Chorus performed Luigi Cherubini’s Requiem to digitally animated projections by Birmingham artist Jean-Jacques Gaudel.
See Gaudel’s blog on creating the Cherubini projections.
With the orchestra dark-lit on the stage of Jemison Concert Hall and 100 singers behind them in the choral balcony, the 1816 Requiem unfolded in grand fashion, ASO Music Director Carlos Izcaray persuasively imparting its anguish and majesty, its stirring melodies and intense drama. The 100-voice Chorus sang with clear focus and precise intonation, always with an ear toward balance with the orchestra. Even without the visual accouterments, this was a sublime reading.
The Requiem was greatly admired by Schumann, Brahms, Berlioz and Beethoven, the latter declaring it superior to Mozart’s Requiem and calling Cherubini the greatest living composer. But for the French-born Gaudel, the lure of telling the history of the French Revolution and Restoration through the Requiem was too great. Projected on a 10- x 53-foot screen above the chorus were words, images and cut-out animation, including graphic depictions of blood and beheadings. They served as guides through the life and times of the Italian-born Cherubini, who lived and worked in Paris through those fateful events. It was nicely displayed, although from the extreme left and right seats in the hall, the edges were obscured by the permanent speaker banks in the hall.
Read the artsBHAM preview story.
Each of the Requiem’s seven parts was introduced by an animated title slide followed by historical themes. They took listeners through the executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the architectural splendors of the Palace of Versailles, and Trianon theater and its backstage and mechanical workings. Grotesque and fantastical images harked back to the 15th century painter Hieronymous Bosch, his “Garden of Earthly Delights” and other triptychs depicting heavenly ecstasy alongside hellish suffering.
Hieronymous Bosch, The Temptation of St. Anthony
Details from the artwork flew off the electronic canvas. They ranged from shockingly gruesome (a body resting in fire) to comical (well-dressed ladies waving fans in front of Versailles). With the cut-out animation technique, which uses flat figures against complex backgrounds, Gaudel fluidly passed through portraits of philosophical and political figures from the period and their predecessors, from Spinoza, Robespierre and Descartes to Rousseau and Voltaire, providing quotations along the way.
Most impressive were the architectural renderings, which provided 360-degree flyovers of Versailles. Less spectacular, though well-rendered, were representations of clocks, a common theme in Gaudel’s outdoor “Light Dreams” projections outside the Alys Stephens Center in 2013 and 2014.
Although there was no exact coordination with the score, the projections vividly rendered the mood of the music, culminating in an homage to prominent figures who were executed, including Carmelite nuns.
Izcaray’s lucid, expressive conducting gave the music equal weight with the visuals, so there was plenty of opportunity for the audience to sort out each facet of the 52-minute experience.
One of the great, though often overlooked, composers of the late classical era, Cherubini possessed a wide palette ranging from high drama to dainty lyricism. His music foreshadowed the coming Romantic era, as illustrated with the Concert Overture in G that opened the program. Composed in 1815, it allowed Izcaray and ASO to open to full throttle, exaggerating accents and dynamic contrasts.
Moving from the relatively unknown to the incredibly popular, the orchestra then played the Symphony No. 5, by Ludwig van Beethoven. Surprisingly, the orchestra searched uneasily for common tempos in the opening Allegro con brio, but came to agreement in the final three movements. The Andante con moto was lithe and transparent, the third movement sparked by crisp imitative entries in cellos and violas, the finale coming to an intense, powerful finish.
CONCERT REVIEW: Alabama Symphony Masterworks
Carlos Izcaray, conductor
Alabama Symphony Chorus, Philip Copeland, director
Music of Cherubini and Beethoven
Friday, April 15, 2016
Alys Stephens Center
Repeats Saturday, April 16 at 8 p.m.