The High Road to Kilkenny

The High Road to Kilkenny : standing ovation

The stage of the Théâtre de Cornouaille still resonates with them. The musicians of Saint Julien, led by flutist François Lazarévitch, performed Irish music from the 17th to the 19th century on Tuesday at the national theatre. The hall was sold out, and the warm welcome they received was in perfect keeping with the music, which invites you to dance and travel through time and emotion. Presented by the excellent tenor Robert Getchell, the programme was varied and colourful: from dances to love songs and a beautiful lullaby, Do Chuirfinnse Féin Mo Leanbh A Chodladh, sung in Gaelic, each song enchanted an audience that was both enthralled and enthusiastic. Young stepdancer Emily Flack also caused a sensation: her breathtaking precision and talent, and her infectious energy, made these moments of dance veritable pearls of happiness. But it was time to say goodbye. The musicians performed two encores, including the lovely Parting Glass, this time in English, before resuming the pre-programme to a vibrant standing ovation.

Embarquement vers The High Road to Kilkenny

Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien will be on the national stage in Quimper on Tuesday. Led by flutist François Lazarevitch, they will be performing the Scottish and Irish baroque repertoire. The Musiciens de Saint- Julien are renowned for their precise work on baroque music from all horizons. After a first album on Scottish baroque music (For Ever Fortune, released in 2012), they are back with a new opus, they are back with a new opus, The High Road to Kilkenny, a collection of early Irish music. When I was studying music, I became interested in Irish and Scottish music, because it moved me and I wanted to explore it further,’ recalls François Lazarevitch. So I went to meet musicians who passed on their music orally. When you want to interpret ancient music, you find treatises and writings that you can’t do without, but you also have to be familiar with dance music and ornamentation and be part of the oral tradition. The artists play period instruments. Audiences will be able to discover the triple harp, or Irish harp, which is a little different from our Celtic harps. Among the instrumentalists is the tehranist Robert Getchell, who will be performing a number of tunes: ‘In the old days, there was a poetry writer, a poet who recited the texts and a harpist. When, in the 17th century, musicians became itinerant, the harpist did everything. So we have chosen, among others, pieces by the best-known harpist, Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738), who wrote the lyrics himself’. Dancer Emily Flack will also be on stage alongside the musicians. This research into the ancient Irish repertoire has been a long-term project. ‘We had to go to the source and find the scores. Sometimes there was just a melody, sometimes with a bass, and we made the arrangements. Thanks to Edward Bunting (1773-1843), who collected many tunes for harp, we were able to find some music. Eight artists on stage, spellbinding music, an ‘eclectic repertoire, with aristocratic and entertaining music’, adds François Lazarevitch: everyone will be able to discover or rediscover the origins of the Irish music so appreciated in our region, which is so marked by Celtic culture.

The Musiciens de Saint-Julien led the large audience gathered at the Théâtre de Cornouaille on Tuesday evening on ‘The High road to Kilkenny’. Along the way, flutes, smallpipes, fiddle, triple and Irish harps, viola da gamba, archlute and cistre accompanied the virtuoso steps of Emily Flack and the magnificent voice of tenor Robert Getchell. Full of refinement, the music and songs by O Carolan and Thomas Connellan, two famous 17th-century harpists, as well as David Murphy, James Oswald and John Peacock, celebrate Ireland while inviting us to dance. Robert Getchell briefly explains the theme of the songs he performs with great poetry. His tenor voice climbs through the octaves, marrying the elegant sounds of the flute (played by the excellent François Lazarevitch). He sings of disappointed love, the hoped-for voyage, the port where good wine is drunk. Baroque accents The ensemble, with its baroque accents and changing tempos, accompanies his journeys from the North to the South of Ireland, and sometimes his longings for elsewhere. The emotion he arouses is sometimes doubled by a great nostalgia and an impression of an impossible dream. Often at the centre of the orchestra, Emily Flack dances. In a short leather dress and black jumper, she performs the steps that are the hallmark of Ireland. The enthusiastic audience warmly applauded each of her performances. Then the harps join in, just as they did in the past for an intense melody, the flute and strings sometimes entering one by one into a dance tune. Robert Getchell sings in English and Gaelic. ‘Do Chuirfinse Féin Mo Leanbh a Chodaldh’, an anonymous lullaby, is one of the wonders of this concert.