Strings

 

Saint Bonnet Elvert, a town smaller than La Roche-Canillac, presented an extraordinary concert in their ancient church.  Two virtuosos performed a difficult and complex programme including Bach, Uccellini (not Puccini), Corelli, Ysaye and Piazzolla.   

 

Jeroen Van der Wel played  the violin, and Elisa La Marca played the guitar and theorbo.  Both are accomplished musicians, well renown throughout Europe.

 

I had never seen a theorbo before.  It is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox, used for accompaniment in 17th- and early 18th-century music.  It sounds very much like a harp.

 

 

The church was full to capacity with some audience members arriving fashionably late, "le quart d'heure Corrézien".  As the church filled, chairs were placed in the aisle and crammed in the back.  If only all performances could be so well-attended!

The musicians performed flawlessly, presenting music from the Baroque to modern.  They were seamlessly comfortable with  sonatas, menuets, or tangos.  The acoustics were rich.

I particularly liked the expression that the MC used when saying that the performers would take a break to relax, "Ils vont se faire une santé".  [They have gone to boost their health.]  I must remember that one, which may well be another expression unique to Corrèze!

A wonderful evening in the presence of exceptional talent.

Our drive home was stressful with the roads slick from rain and the night darker than pitch.  The way seemed more curved and twisted than during the day, and the encroaching trees more ominous.  Perhaps the Brothers Grimm took notes for their fairy tales from this very road.