Childe Antoine's Pilgrimage
From
Andrew Clarke@21:1/5 to
All on Sun Apr 30 07:54:50 2023
There's a fine performance of Berlioz's Harold in Italy on Arte at the moment -residents of tents in the Tenderloin are assured that Arte is still free. The orchestra is the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, the conductor is Sir John Eliot
Gardiner, the tubist plays an ophicleide, and the soloist is the celebrated French violist Antoine Tapestit.
What is remarkable about this performance is that the soloiste, perhaps emulating his hero, does not physically remain in the same spot. He begins, conventionally enough, next to the conductor's rostrum, but in the next movement he is somewhere among the
woodwinds, and at the very end, he is at the back of the orchestra with three other violists. To make one transition he is almost sprinting into the wings of the stage.
Now I've seen this done with small Baroque ensembles, where a soloist might move about a bit, but in such cases it's a matter of a few metres, possibly to be closer to an obbligato player. But this is the first time I've seen it done with a large-scale
performance. I wonder who made the decision - M. Tamestit or Sir John?
Andrew Clarke
Canberra
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