FP 138 is Poulenc's Trio Suite 'L'invitation au château'. Replace 'château' with 'Salle Élisabeth' of the prestigious hotel Corinthia on Brussels' Koningsstraat and you are confronted with the continuation of the 'Concerts Astoria', which had Trio Kaliko as guests on the first Sunday of June.
'Kaliko' is the name for a calico cat. Its three colours, black, white and red are symbols for three instrument groups, three nationalities and three musical worlds. And that is precisely Trio Kaliko: violin, clarinet and piano, a violist from Brussels, a Spanish clarinetist and a pianist with Italian roots, born in Mantua, with the evocative name Mantovani.
There was only one name on the programme, Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), but the many facets in his musical language far exceed the number three. Thus we heard a broad palette of humour, irony, exuberance, seriousness, sadness and melancholy. Nicolas Dupont sees it rightly: like Mozart, Poulenc can shift from the highest heights to the deepest lows. No instrument can laugh, tease, jest and lament like the clarinet, as Alba Mayonga Rodrigo masters it. We had already heard her at the MIM but with a different acoustics we had no idea of the power she draws from her instrument. You are not for nothing a permanent member of the Koninklijke Muziekkapel van De Gidsen.
Clarinet and piano, piano solo, their own version for violin and clarinet of the original Sonata for two clarinets, violin and piano and as finale the three together, so many combinations, so many sound worlds. A feast for the ear and a feast for the eye in this setting that is a symbiosis of ecru and olive green. Even the outfits of the musicians were attuned to the colour of the walls and carpet, where only the grand piano, the mirror doors and the crystal of the chandeliers were different. For each piece Nicolas Dupont provided a knowledgeable, detailed commentary. Only, he drew much more from his dark, matte Pedrazzini, 1920 and copy of a Pressenda, which he has on loan, than from his voice and his English.
Light and dark
The height of deeply felt tragedy was the famous Violin Sonata FP 119 from the war years 1942/43. It is dedicated to Federico Garcia Lorca, who was murdered shortly before during the Spanish Civil War. The historical context is evident in the naming of the movements as 'Allegro con fuocco' or 'Presto tragico', in the score indications and, above all, in the music itself. Fierce rhythms, dramatic outbursts like gunshots or cannon fire, sudden pauses find a counterpart in the guitar-imitating pizzicati of the Intermezzo, for "the guitar makes dreams weep". The basis for all this beauty was the piano of Marco Mantovani. His full and sonorous touch allowed every melodic line to come into its own.
After the drama of the Violin Sonata, 'L'invitation au château' led back to the lighter, more playful Poulenc, who felt at home in the world of theatre. For the incidental music of the play of the same name by Jean Anouilh, he wrote a series of short scenes and character pieces that follow each other at high speed. And even this colourful mosaic of waltzes, a march, a tango, a polka, a tarantella and other light-footedness is unable to hide a hint of seriousness and nostalgia.