Back at the Halle aux Grains in Toulouse for a fascinating programme of works by Claude Debussy, Ernest Bloch and Gustav Mahler. I was particularly looking forward to seeing the performance of the wonderful Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta

The evening began with Debussy’s ‘Prelude à l’Après-midi d’un faun’. Inspired by Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem, it was composed in 1892 and premiered in 1894. It was originally intended to be part of a three-movement symphony but Debussy retained only the Prelude, which has since become a favourite part of the repertoire. It was beautifully played, with the flute part being particularly noteworthy.

The first part of the evening was completed by Ernest Bloch’s ‘Schelomo – Rhapsodie hébraïque pour violincelle’. It draws on Bloch’s Jewish heritage and is inspired by the biblical figure of Solomon, whose voice is said to be represented by the cello. I had never seen this live before and it was a special treat to see it being performed by Sol Gabetta, who played it with great feeling, bringing an enthusiastic response from the audience.

Sol Gabetta (photograph Julia Wesely)

Tarmo Peltokoski and the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony no. 1 in D major, composed in 1888, is one of my favourite works to see in concert. I have seen it many times but tonight’s performance was possibly the best of all. The orchestra were really on fire and played superbly. Woodwinds and percussion were particularly impressive but all sections played really well and conductor Tarmo Peltokoski was called back several times.

Claude Debussy: ‘Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune’; Ernest Bloch: ‘Schelomo, Rhapsodie hébraïque pour violoncelle et orchestre’; Gustav Mahler: ‘Symphony no. 1 in D major’.

A great musical start to the new year with an excellent performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by the Orchestre Nationale de Toulouse under Tarmo Peltokoski, the joint choirs of l’Opera National du Capitole and l’Opera Orchestre National Montpellier and soloists Albert Dohmen (bass), Tuomas Katajala (tenor), Tuija Knihtilä (mezzo-soprano) and Elsa Dreisig (soprano).

The symphony was really well played throughout; however, I particularly enjoyed the joyous, fast moving second movement, one of my favourite scherzos, and, of course, the fourth, choral movement. The latter was well sung by all four soloists, with Albert Dohmen’s bass being clear and well-projected in introducing the Ode to Joy. However, it was the joint choirs of l’Opera National du Capitole and l’Opera Orchestre National Montpellier who stole the show – they sang wonderfully and with great intensity, bringing the work to a thrilling end.

Beethoven: Symphony no. 9 in D minor, Opus 125.

Giants

66 million years ago, all marine and flying reptiles as well as the dinosaurs, apart from the birds, were wiped out in a mass extinction caused by a meteorite colliding with Earth. This then allowed the development of small mammals who gradually filled the habitats left free. With few predators many of these grew to reach gigantic proportions. The Natural History Museum of Toulouse exhibition ‘Giants’ displays eight species from the Cenozoic era with a mixture of skeletons and 3D sculptures.  

Smilodon populator (Uruguay)

Although commonly known as the sabre-toothed tiger, Smilodon was not closely related to the tiger. It was one of the last-surviving machairodonts and lived during the Pleistocene epoch.

Gastornis laurenti (France)

Gastornis laurenti was a species of giant flightless bird that lived in the Early Eocene period, 52 million years ago.

Megatherium americanum (South America)

Megatherium is an extinct genus of giant ground sloth that lived in South America around 25 million years ago.

It was also an opportunity to see the Museum’s permanent collection celebrating the planet’s biodiversity. Particularly interesting was the collection of prehistoric fossils and an impressive display of tribal masks.

Fossils

Echinoderms and trilobites (Morocco)

Crinoid Hapalocrinus frechi (Germany)

Crinoids Jimbacrinus bostocki (Australia)

Ichthyosaur Ichthyosaurus tenuirostris (Germany)

Pygopterus Pygopterus humboldti (Germany)

Masks

Ejumba mask (Diola culture, Sénégal)

Eharo mask (Elema culture, Papua New Guinea)

Tamanoir mask (Kayapo culture, Brazil)

Yaka mask (Democratic Republic of Congo)

At the Halle aux Grains, Toulouse, for the opening concert of the 2024 – 25 season, with the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse under its new director, Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski.

Gustav Mahler’s Symphony no. 2 is a massive work utilising an enormous orchestra, choirs and soloists that deals with massive subjects such as death and resurrection. In a way it is a continuation of the journey begun in his First Symphony, but on a much larger scale.

I found this evening’s first movement to be a bit patchy with the exposition lacking a little tension; however, things were not helped by a large section of the audience surprisingly deciding to applaud about three-quarters of the way through. At the end of the first movement Tarmo Peltokoski unusually took Mahler’s full stipulated pause before launching the Andante and from here on the performance was excellent and it got better as it went on. The inner movements were impeccably executed with the woodwinds, brass and percussion being particularly impressive.

The work gets its name, ‘Resurrection’, from the final movement when the choir enters singing “Aufersteh’n, ja aufersteh’n” (“Rise again, yes, rise again”). The joint choirs of l’Opéra national du Capitole and Radio France performed it superbly and the voices of the soloists, Finnish soprano Silja Aalto and German mezzo Wiebke Lehmkuhl, were clear and bright, even if their position in the middle of the orchestra meant that they didn’t soar above the brass as much as they might have done had they been at the front.

Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable beginning to the season and to Tarmo Peltokoski’s tenure, with much to look forward to.

Musée Zadkine in Les Arques, Lot, France, holds a permanent collection of works, mainly sculptures, by the Russian-French artist Ossip Zadkine.

Ossip Zadkine

Ossip Zadkine was born in January 1888 in the city of Vitsebsk in the Russian Empire. Interestingly, at the age of fifteen, he was sent by his father to Sunderland, England, to learn English and ‘good manners’, before moving to London and attending lessons at Regent Street Polytechnic. In 1910 he moved to Paris where he studied for six months at the École des Beaux-Arts. He then joined the Cubist movement, working in that style from 1914 to 1925, before developing his own technique, which was influenced by African and Greek art.

In Paris, Zadkine lived in Montparnasse, where his neighbours included author Henry Miller, who based the character of Borowski in ‘Tropic of Cancer’ on him, and artists Chaïm Soutine and Tsuguharu Foujita.

As well as its permanent collection, Musée Zadkine also holds temporary exhibitions, the current one examining Zadkine’s shared interest with Jean Cocteau in the legend of Orpheus. It is likely that their interest in the legendary figure came from their mutual friend, poet Guillaume Apollinaire who published a collection of poems, illustrated by Raoul Dufy, entitled ‘Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée’ in 1911. Zadkine made at least ten sculptures of Orpheus, whilst Cocteau adapted the story for the stage in 1926 and used it in two films: ‘Orpheus’ (1950) and ‘Testament of Orpheus’ (1960).

Jean Cocteau

Guillaume Apollinaire (ill. Raoul Dufy) ‘Le Bestiaire ou Cortège d’Orphée’ (1911)

Jean Cocteau ‘Orphée. Tragédie en un acte’ (published 1927)

Jean Cocteau ‘Musicien à la lyre’ (1961)

Ossip Zadkine ‘Orphée’ (1960)

From the permanent collection:

Ossip Zadkine ‘La Sainte Famille’ (1912 – 13)

Ossip Zadkine ‘Buste de femme’ (1914)

Ossip Zadkine ‘Trio musical’ (1930)

Ossip Zadkine ‘La Prisonnière’ (1943)

Ossip Zadkine ‘Le Retour de Fils prodique’ (1950)

Ossip Zadkine ‘L’Arbre des Grâces’ (1962 – 63)

Spending a few days exploring some of the picturesque towns and villages in the Gers department of south-west France. The Gers is in the centre of the region formerly known as Gascony, once ruled by the English after the marriage of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1152. It is now renowned for its gastronomy and especially for the production of Armagnac.

Fleurance was founded as a fortified town in the thirteenth century. It has a central square with arcades and originally had a medieval wooden market hall but this was replaced in the nineteenth century by the present covered stone hall.

Fleurance market hall

The town’s Church of St. Laurent is in the meridional gothic style with an octagonal bell tower. Its apse has three magnificent Renaissance stained-glass windows dated 1507 – 1513 by Arnaud de Moles. They depict the Holy Trinity, scenes from the lives of saints and the tree of Jesse.

Eglise Saint-Laurent de Fleurance

Detail from ‘Tree of Jesse’ window, Eglise Saint-Laurent de Fleurance

La Romieu is designated as one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France and its collegiate complex has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its foundation began in 1062 when monks returning from a pilgrimage to Rome and en-route to Santiago de Compostela, settled in the region and founded a priory around which the village grew.

La Romieu

Collégiale Saint-Pierre, La Romieu

Cloître de Collégiale Saint-Pierre, La Romieu

Lectoure is situated at the eastern end of the Armagnac region of the Gers. The town is on the ancient Via Podiensis, classified as a Unesco World Heritage Site as part of the pilgrimage route to Santiago di Compostella. Today it is a busy market town famous for its antiques centre and spa baths..

Cathédrale Saint-Gervais – Saint-Protais and the town of Lectoure

Antiques arcade in Lectoure

Larressingle

Larressingle is the smallest fortified village in France and is designated as one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France. The fortifications and chateau were built in the thirteenth century and it once had a population of three hundred, but now there are just a few inhabitants within the inner fortified village.

The church of Saint Sigismund was built before the village and dates to the twelfth century. It is unusual in that the entrance is on the first floor to deter invaders. The chateau, now privately owned, was the residence of the Bishops of Condom in the thirteenth century. After the French Revolution the village was abandoned and only rediscovered in 1920, since when there has been much restoration work.

The fortified village of Larressingle

The entrance to Larressingle

Condom

The market town of Condom is a sub-prefecture of the Gers department and is now mainly known for the production and distribution of Armagnac.

Place Verdun (now Place Saint-Pierre) Condom (1947)

Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Condom

The town’s cathedral, the second to occupy the site, was built between 1506 and 1531, then substantially rebuilt in the following century, mostly in the gothic meridional style.The tympanum above the west door has a central figure of Christ surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists. The cathedral cloister, which is also in the gothic style, has a series of impressive pointed stone arches.

Tympanum above the west portal of Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Condom

Cloître de Condom

D’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers, Place Saint-Pierre, Condom

John Mayall at Newport Jazz Festival, 1966

John Mayall, known as the ‘godfather of British Blues’, died at his home in California on 22 July 2024, aged 90.

He formed his band, the Bluesbreakers, in the early 1960s and it became a platform for the development of many great musicians, including Eric Clapton, John McVie, Peter Green, Jack Bruce and Mick Taylor. He was a wonderful musician and bandleader and I have very happy memories of seeing him perform.

The citadel of Carcassonne in the Aude department of southern France is one of the largest surviving medieval walled cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A fortified settlement has existed on the site since pre-Roman times, although in the fifth century the site was taken over by the Visigoths, who founded the current city as part of the newly-established Visigothic Kingdom.

Carcassonne was a stronghold of the Occitan Cathars during the Albigensian Crusades of the early thirteenth century but in 1209 its citizens were forced to surrender and the city submitted to the rule of the kingdom of France in 1247. It became a border fortress between France and the Crown of Aragon in 1258 and and King Louis IX and his successor Philip III built the city’s outer ramparts.

The city’s Gothic Cathédrale Saint-Michel de Carcassonne also dates from the thirteenth century, although following war damage in the fourteenth century it was rebuilt as a fortified church. It was elevated to cathedral status in 1803.

Carcassonne with its double defensive walls.

Cathédrale Saint-Michel de Carcassonne

Aigues-Mortes in the Camargue region of southern France is particularly known for two things: its pink salt marshes, coloured by micro-organisms of a variety of microscopic algae, which are devoted to the production of quality sea salt, and the thirteenth-century towers and ramparts which surround much of the town. The town and its ramparts were commissioned by Louis IX in 1248 to establish a port on the Mediterranean and it is connected to the sea by a series of canals and lagoons.Apart from the sea salt, much of the town’s income today derives from tourism.

The Tower of Constance and the ramparts of Aigues-Mortes

Aigues-Mortes

An evening of Gustav Mahler by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Mikko Franck opened with the song cycle ‘Kindertotenlieder’ before continuing in the second half to what was intended to be the main event, Symphony no. 4.

However, whilst the symphony would be well performed, ‘Kindertotenlieder’ was, for me, always going to be the main event. Not only is it a collection of songs that I love to listen to, despite the sad subject matter, but it was being sung by my favourite French mezzo-soprano, Marianne Crebassa.

Marianne Crebassa (photograph Simon Fowler)

Whilst ‘Songs on the Death of Children’ is obviously not the most cheerful of subjects to listen to, Marianne Crebassa’s voice is perfectly suited to conveying the sorrow of the words in an extremely thoughtful way. It was a most beautiful interpretation.

Symphony no. 4 in G major was composed between 1899 and 1900, although the song for soprano in the fourth movement dates from 1892. The Fourth is the last of Mahler’s three so-called ‘Wunderhorn’ symphonies, which incorporate themes originating in his ‘Des Knaben Wunderhorn’ song cycle.

Mikko Franck (photograph Christophe Abramowitz)

The first movement is quite jolly, with its sleigh bell motif and the woodwinds and brass were particularly impressive. Impressive playing continued in the second movement from the violins especially and thoughts were that this could be a particularly fine Fourth Symphony. However, the slow third movement, whilst played well, failed to keep the same level of attention. The fourth movement belongs to the soprano, in this case Melody Louledjian, but whilst she sang beautifully, in some sections her voice didn’t seem to have the power to effectively reach the front row of the balcony where I was sitting. So in all, a fine performance, but not the best Mahler 4 I have ever heard.

Nevertheless, overall it was a great evening, especially because I got to hear the wonderful Marianne Crebassa again.

Gustav Mahler: ‘Kindertotenlieder’; Gustav Mahler ‘Symphony no. 4 in G major’.