 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: beejay
Date: 2000-11-22 22:55
Allow me to give you all a highly personal and therefore highly subjective account of Buffet Crampon's 175th anniversary concert in the Cirque d'Hiver or Winter Circus in Paris the other night.Jacques Lancelot was there looking very spry, and Buffet Crampon's managing director presented him with a statuette to mark his 80th birthday. We heard and tremendously enjoyed the soloists from La Scala de Milan (oboe, clarinet, bassoon) playing Beethoven's arrangement of La ci darem la mano. We were transported by Michel Arrignon playing Schubert's "Hart on the Rock" with a beautiful and talented young soprano, Sylvia Kevorkian, and a super pianist called Nicolas Dessenne. Arrignon's tone was absolute velvet. The Magnifica Quintet (two trumpets, French horn, trombone and tuba) playing Venetian renaissance music by Gulio Caccini by candlelight transported us to a higher plane. We heard the orchestra of the Garde Republicaine, which was most impressive, and their uniforms were nice too. They played a vigorous piece by Florent Schmitt called "Dyonisiaques" and a divertimento for saxophone and orchestra by Roger Boutry.; The very fine soloist was Fabrice Moretti. The Midden Brabant Brass Band from Belgium skilfully played an interminable arrangement of Tristan and Isolde, which reminded us of Rossini's coment that Wagner has some nice moments but some terrible half hours. The less noisy elements of the band then accompanied a very loud Jacques Brel interpreter called Bernard Bruel, which was fine if you like Brel, but doubly painful if you don't, which we do not. Many things about the French we love, but their penchant for gargling pop stars leaves us cold. It has to be said, however, that the Brel impersonator was obviously the star of the show. The evening finished off with a Hymn to Buffet Crampon by an American saxophonist called Bradley Wheeler, which was so pompous that it made us wish that Mozart were still around to do the job instead. With or without music, the Winter Circus is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in Paris. And if you are reading this, Michel Arrignon., thank you!
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