An exciting yet contained gala, more intimate than expansive, like the honoree itself, but in which some of today's substantial international Catalan sopranos were missing. This was the tribute to Victoria de los Ángeles that the foundation that bears her name celebrated at the Liceu on her centenary. Ten figures of poetry came this Tuesday to remember her singing iconic pieces from the extensive and varied repertoire in which she was a true master: from the most intimate Purcell to Bizet's shameless Carmen, passing through the Puccini with whom she made history and the Wagner before those that always grew. They were all Victories.
Authentic monsters of the soprano and mezzo-soprano strings shared the stage. Joyce DiDonato brought the elegance, Sarah Connolly the sensitivity and sense, Iréne Theorin the Wagnerian strength, Marina Viotti the self-confidence... All of them surrendered to the legacy of the great Barcelona soprano of the 20th century, whose centenary is only a month away from Maria Callas (December 2).
They also sang the Italian Maria Agresta -who with the iconic aria from La bohème marked a high point of the evening-, the British Louise Alder, the Portuguese Helena Ressurreiçao, the Egyptian Fatma Said and the young - and spectacular - Armenian Juliana Grigorian, in addition from Pamplona Sabina Puértolas, the only Spanish one of them all and to whom it corresponded to sing Damunt de tu only les flors, by Frederic Mompou.
The evening, whose program wanted to follow a plot line that would illuminate aspects of Victoria de los Ángeles' life, began with Dame Sarah Connolly singing a Schubert lied alongside Julius Drake, a pianist who accompanied the diva in life, although not for so many years. years like Albert Guinovart, who did not appear on stage or on the stage.
And if this An die Musik had been the debut of the Barcelona soprano in 1944, in a recital at the Saló dels Miralls, immediately afterwards her last song performed at the Liceu was played, in 1992: the delicious Ai que linda moça, by Cristóbal Halffter , in the voice of Ressurreiçao and the guitar of Bernardo Rambeaud.
The American - although living on the Costa Brava - DiDonato took charge after that preamble, singing a piece from Victoria's beginnings and her family influences: Of the most subtle hair, by Obradors. And later in the gala, she would echo the diva's unhappy marriage, singing "Va! Laisse couler mes larmes", by Werther. A moment when she, Grigorian and Connolly consoled each other, singing the Armenian "Senza Mamma" by Suor Angelica, about her motherhood, and the British "When I am laid in earth" by Dido and Aeneas, about her legacy. .
The artists wore some garment from Victoria's closet, stoles, scarves, shawls... or Suzuki's kimono in Madama Butterfly that with so much emotion - "it's incredible, I feel very honored" - Grigorian wore when performing "Un bel di vedremo" ". Puccini won by a landslide in the field of emotions in the section that the gala dedicated to Victoria's successes at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Maria Agresta would merge into Verdi with the "Ave Maria" from her Otello, before Viotti went down to the stalls to start the humorous "Una voce poco fa" from Il barbiere di Siviglia, and Puértolas closed the first part with Manon, French repertoire in which she is a great specialist.
The Orquestra Simfònica del Liceu - which, although not having reached an agreement with the company on the audiovisual rights, agreed to have the event recorded for dissemination in the near future, once the contract has been signed - was directed by maestro Lucas Macías, who already starred in the participation of the high school training in the last Grec festival, with the ballet by Sasha Waltz.
Macías dared to perform the Tannhaüser overture that had not been played in the Gran Teatre for a long time, after which Theorin sang "Dicht, teure Halle" from this same Wagnerian opera, in clear allusion to Victoria's trip to Bayreuth. Some of the arias and songs - lieder by Schumann, Brahms and Mendelssohn were also played - were accompanied by video images that can also be seen in the exhibition That eternal admiration that continues at the Palau Robert and that explores the friendship between Victoria and Alicia de Larrocha . Images in which Victoria appears with her mother in the Bayreuth gardens. Or with the composer Matilde Salvador through the streets of Paris. Or being recorded by her husband while Madama Butterfly plays on stage... which turns him into the insensitive Pinkerton...
The nods to Victoria's life and career are innumerable in this concept work by Marc Busquests, artistic director of Life Victoria, although the gala suffers at times from a certain musical stylistic incongruity. Or in the possible crescendo. The Brazilian Bachiana by Heitor Villa-lobos in which the ten artists joined surrounded by Victoria's dresses hanging from the ceiling - an idea by Vincent Huguet - was an emotional ending to a night to remember.
The audience that packed the room symbolized, as Víctor García de Gomar, artistic director of the house, said, each of those thousands of flowers that rained down on Victoria when she returned to this room after 27 years of inexplicable absence. Something that one day will have to be investigated and published.
