Recital by Lucile Richardot
17 h 55 sur Mezzo Live HD
Everything is sobriety and depth in this one-hour program, captured in July 2020 during the Saintes Festival. The frame of the Abbaye aux Dames, tenderly lit, filmed without spectacular effects by the director Sébastien Glas. The choice of French melodies made by mezzo-soprano Lucile Richardot, accompanied by members of the Kwartet ensemble (violinists Alice Julien-Laferrière and Louis Créac’h, violist Josèphe Cottet and cellist Keiko Gomi). Finally, the interpretation of these five artists, tending towards the poetic magic of the texts and the grace of the music.
Berlioz (two of his summer nights), Fauré, Duparc and Debussy share the recital, bathed in a chiaroscuro atmosphere where melancholy prevails over joy. The words are indeed vague to the soul, and the composers intertwine them with equally nostalgic harmonies. Lucile Richardot’s bronze timbre, her perfect diction – what an art of the silent “e”, so delicate to pronounce without artifice! – and the impeccable “management” of his breathing work wonders in At the water’s edge or Le Secret by Faure, In the land where there is war et An invitation to travel by Duparc.
Amazing vocal stuff
As at ease in oratorio and baroque opera as in the contemporary repertoire, the French singer has a singular, astonishing vocal quality, with an ample and lustrous bass, a powerful or whispering treble. Listen to the last melody of the concert, the famous After a dream by Fauré, a hymn to the all-too-short night whose beneficent “lies” evaporate with dawn…
Dressed in green, with an expressive face, Lucile Richardot surrounded by her instrumentalist accomplices creates an intimate atmosphere, a climate of confidence, addressing each listener. A plan briefly shows us his shadow projected on a column of the abbey church. Light but lasting trace of a moment that carries you, takes you away… and leaves you fulfilled. But also filled with this sweet sadness specific to music and which does so much good.