Opera japonica/William Christie

A Portrait of William Christie: Looking Forward

by Frank Cadenhead

William Christie (front right) and Les Arts Florissants

Photo: Guy Vivien

William Christie left America for France some 30 years ago, but there are still some lingering traces of his New England background. An interview scheduled for nine in the morning, a time when most Parisians are still involved with their coffee and croissants, is not usually considered viable, particularly in the French performing arts community. But after plowing through the pages of information furnished by Les Arts Florissants, the orchestra he founded in 1979, the real reason for the early hour became apparent. This year he has a remarkably full schedule, including tours in Europe (twice), a tour in Japan and the Far East, a high-profile appearance conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in October and major appearances at the Paris and Zurich Operas, both with new productions. A new, three-year agreement with the city of Caen (the home base of his orchestra), the department of Basse-Normandie and the French Ministry of Culture provides future security and increased financing. Launching a new academy for the development of young singers, Le Jardin des Voix (The Garden of Voices) is also a new item in his packed agenda.

He seems at ease but has the air of one slightly wary of the journalist, and speaks with the careful phrases of a veteran of countless press interviews. When I asked him if he thought this was his 'greatest' season ever, he replied, with a smile, "Yes, but what if it's a failure? It could be a disaster." However I did not come away with the impression that Christie was worried about that possibility. The interview revealed a self-assured musician possessed of a clear vision and a secure future.

Born in Buffalo, New York, 58 years ago, Christie studied early music practice at Harvard and Yale before moving to France in 1971. An accomplished harpsichordist, he worked with other young people devoted to historically informed performance. "In those days," he relates, "there were only about 300 people interested in French baroque music - and that included the audience. You would see the same people in the audience, even in different cities." He was one of the early, earnest group of young fanatics that the British early music conductor Christopher Hogwood referred to the 'brown rice and sandals set'. He took the major step of founding his orchestra and choral group, Les Arts Florissants, eight years after arriving in France. Their concerts became increasingly known by the music-going public in France for their crisp performances and uncovering of discoveries in the baroque repertory. His recordings, praised by critics, gained an ever-wider audience. It was the acclaimed production, and subsequent recording and tour, of Atys by Lully at the Opéra Comique in Paris that assured his international fame. Since that, his reputation as an advocate for the French baroque has gained him honor in France. More than 70 recordings have made him a world-renowned interpreter of composers from Monteverdi to Mozart.

With a rehearsal at 10:30 that morning, he was preparing a program of French baroque music, Grand Motets by André Campra (1660-1744), with Les Arts Florissants for a first performance the next evening in the Cathedral of Amiens, and a final performance at the Cité de la Musique in Paris on September 29. A recording of these works would also be fitted in during the tour. After that preparations would begin for his October 19, 20 and 21 appearances with the Berlin Philharmonic.

The fact that he will be the first invited guest to conduct in Simon Rattle's debut season as Music Director of the Berlin Philharmonic has already generated much comment in the press. I asked if this was a surprise request and he indicated that it had been discussed with his 'old friend' for some time. With his impeccable early music credentials he is the kind of fresh air that Rattle wants to bring into the famed Philharmoniker Hall. The program will consists of excerpts of the Fairy Queen of Henry Purcell and 'Les Sauvages', the fourth part of the Rameau opera, Les Indes Galantes. He will bring along the Les Arts Florissants chorus and a group of largely French soloists he has worked with many times before, but he will be working with Berlin musicians who have probably never played a note of either of these two composers.

The November issue of the British music magazine, the Gramophone, has a series of monthly reviews of recordings of masterworks. This month's subject was Mozart's Die Entfürung aus dem Serail and Christie's Erato recording was rated as 'best' ,over versions by Beecham, Solti, Gardiner, Böhm and Harnoncourt, among others. Other recent successes have been his best selling recording of the 1999 Paris Opera production of Handel's Alcina (with divas Renée Fleming, Natalie Dessay and Barbara Bonney), his Glyndebourne appearances and his regular appearances in the Paris Opera and the Aix-en-Provence Festival. His new Erato/Warner CD of music of Jean-Baptiste Lully, 'Les Divertissements de Versailles', has won several 'best of the month' European music magazine awards. These and the forthcoming Berlin Philharmonic appearance all prompt the inevitable question: "Do you think 'HIP' (historically informed performance) has become mainstream?" He had not yet heard of the Gramophone article and was pleased with the news, but blanched a bit at the question. He seemed, after so many years, reluctant to give up his 'outsider' image, suggesting that the magazine has always been 'supportive' and that his appearance on the Berlin podium should not imply new career directions. Almost alone among his HIP contemporaries he has resisted the temptations to stray from the baroque musical pastures where he began so many years ago. When asked about French composers of the classical period, he sounded a little defensive. "I've recorded some Méhul and played some Gossec," he said, his voice trailing off while he tried to recall some others. His heart is clearly still with the French baroque and his mission to uncover the buried treasures there is not yet finished.

Christie was a pioneer in championing the French baroque and he, more than any other, was responsible for bringing a wide audience to the music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier, assuring that composer of a place beside Lully and Rameau as one of the French masters of the baroque. I ask if he had to spend much time in dusty archives in his research of the repertory he has made famous. "Charpentier and the others were all just sitting there on the library shelves. It didn't take any great detective work to find them," was his modest reply. His production of Les Boréades by Rameau for the Palais Garnier in March and April will be the first performance at the Opéra de Paris, the institution for which it was originally written. Rameau's last opera, it is a major work that is described as 'modern in conception and teeming with new musical and dramatic ideas'. This production unites Christie with renowned stage designer Robert Carsen, with whom he worked in the celebrated Alcina production. These performances will also be seen at the Théâtre de Caen and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. The production will be recorded, according to Christie, on CD and, possibly, also on DVD.

On the subject of his recording future, Christie dropping his professorial demeanor and was animated as he denounced his former record company, the Warner Classics division. He labeled as simple 'greed and hubris' the octopus-like growth of this company in the 90s as it swallowed small but notable labels like Erato with whom he had a recording contract. With the drop in CD sales in the last few years, they simply gutted or eliminated the classical music divisions, dumping the musically knowledgable and respected staff. Dropping literally all of the biggest artists under contract, they retained only Christie and Nicholas Harnoncourt with promises of future projects. During a year long period, Christie related, he grew to understand that there were no 'future projects' and that the company was stringing him along to avoid a costly settlement. Finally, he said, there seemed to be no one there on the other end of the telephone that even knew who he was - or who Harnoncourt was for that matter. With the end of classics at Warner/Universal came the extinction of Erato and many other labels whose often sophisticated and understanding managers were scattered to the winds.

On the topic of the new vocal academy , the Jardin des Voix, which he established this year and which will be repeated every other year he was enthusiastic. After the Berlin appearances, Christie returns to Les Arts Florissants home base, the city of Caen, and begin working with nine singers he recently selected from 162 applicants, 90 of whom he heard in auditions held around Europe. The first stage is a training academy offering the young singers, from as far away as Argentina and the United States, valuable experience preparing concert programs with Christie.

During the second stage of the academy, they will gain performance experience in major music capitals of Europe during a November 12 through 26 tour. Appearing in Caen, Brussels, Lisbon, Frankfurt and Paris, among other cities, they will be performing works by Rameau, Handel, Telemann, Lully, Purcell and Monteverdi with Christie and the orchestra of Les Arts Florissants. "But isn't this what you already have been doing?" I wondered. "The Jardin des Voix," Christie replied, "is an forum to help me focus the effort to discover new talent and to provide solid, practical performance experience." Working to prepare the singers, he will also interact with students from the Conservatory in Caen in the training process. Education is an important element of Les Arts Florissants activities. Christie was on the faculty of the Paris Conservatory from 1982 until 1994, the first American so honored. Master classes with Christie and members of the orchestra and chorus are a feature of all tours, including the Far East.

In the past twenty years, Christie has given exposure to many, if not most, of the new crop of French singers to achieve international stardom. Names like Sandrine Piau, Veronique Gens, Gérard Lesne, Patricia Petibon, Nathalie Stutzmann, Jean-Paul Fouchécourt, Nicholas Rivenq and Gilles Ragon are examples of singers who have appeared early in their careers under his baton, some in the Les Arts Florissants chorus. At different times in the orchestra, Christophe Coin was a cellist, Marc Minkowski a bassoonist and Christophe Rousset played the harpsichord. All have now their own groups and recordings. This fostering and flourishing of the aptly named group Les Arts Florissants has created an entire generation of early music performers. The 1987 commercial success of the recording of Atys gave the green light to record companies to go for 'baroque' in a big way. In addition to Christie's efforts, conductors René Jacobs and Marc Minkowski, as well as Coin and Rousset have made significant additions to the recording catalog of baroque music over the past 15 years, and the public is yet to be satiated. As one of the vital forces behind the revival of interest in the French baroque and, indeed, all of the baroque repertory, it is no wonder that he was awarded the Legion of Honor, France's highest tribute, in 1993.

After returning from the tour, he will begin rehearsals for a European tour of Handel's Messiah beginning at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris on 8 and 9 December. After a five-city tour of Spain and a Berlin performance, he returns home for the holidays to begin planning the January tour of European cities playing Bach and Handel sonatas on the harpsichord with his friend and long-time musical colleague, the violinist Hiro Kurosaki. Included in the tour are appearances at Wigmore Hall in London, the Tonhalle in Zurich, and the Konzerthaus in Vienna.

Christie is clearly looking forward to the trip in February to Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. He has been in Japan before with a smaller ensemble but this is the first time he will travel there with the full contingent of orchestra and chorus - some 60 musicians in all. He will present two different programs in major venues in Tokyo, Sapporo and Fukui. The soloists announced so far include soprano Sophie Daneman, baritone Paul Gay, counter-tenor Christophe Dumeaux and bass Nicholas Rivenq. The programs will consist of Handel's Messiah in Fukui on February 11, in Tokyo at Opera City on February 12 and Sapporo on February 14. On February 16 there will be a concert performance of excerpts from The Fairy Queen of Purcell and the fourth part of Rameau's opera Les Indes Galantes, entitled 'Les Sauvages' at Tokyo's Opera City. This second program duplicates the program with the Berlin Philharmonic, with much the same soloists, but this time he will be conducting his own orchestra. The two programs will alternate in Singapore at the Esplanade, on February 18 and 19, and in Hong Kong on February 21 and 22 at the Cultural Centre. In addition, Christie will repeat the duo program with Hiro Kurosaki on February 23 at Government House in Hong Kong before flying back to Paris to begin rehearsals for Les Boréades at the Opéra-Garnier.

In Paris, Barbara Bonney will sing the role of Alphise and soprano Anna Maria Panzarella will play Sémire. Tenor Paul Agnew sings Abaris and tenor Toby Spence will sing Calisis, with bass Stéphane Degout as Borilée. After performances from March 28 through April 17 in Paris, the production will move to Caen for two performances on 26 and 28 April. It will have four performances from 9 to 15 May at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and will be performed in concert version at the Barbican Center in London on June 19. In Caen, New York and London, Anna Maria Panzarella will sing Alphise and the young soprano Jaël Azzaretti will take on the role of Sémire.

Between the New York and London dates Christie will be in Zurich for a new production, by Heinz Spörli, of Rameau's opera Les Indes Galantes with nine performances until May 29. Opera has always been an important part of his performance plans and discography, and future projects include new productions of King Arthur (Purcell) in Aix-en-Provence in 2004 and Handel's Hercules (rumored to star Andreas Scholl, Bryn Terfel and Susan Graham) also at Aix in 2006. Also in the rumor mill is a Saul at the Opéra in 2004 and Rameau's Les Paladins at Châtelet during the same season.

One would expect that buying a ticket to the concert of 'Grand Motets' in Latin by a composer named André Campra would be easy. However the day before the concert on Saturday, September 28, the ticket seller at the Cité de la Musique box office could only offer a place on the stairs in the upper balcony. The final concert of six around France, the hall was sold out. Pleading a bad back and declaring myself to be a journalist writing about Maestro Christie, the helpful personnel managed to find an unclaimed chair after a considerable search. The audience cheering and stomping at the end of the concert suggested that Christie has succeeded again in focusing attention on yet another seldom-heard French baroque master.

A few weeks after the interview, Virgin Classics announced to the press that they had signed William Christie to a multi-record contract and that one of the recordings will be the Campra motets. It's a recording to be recommend. The last motet of the evening, 'Exaudiat te Dominus' in particular was a masterpiece of richly-orchestrated musical delights, providing a stirring, passionate climax to an evening of unexpected pleasures.

William Christie and Les Arts Florissants

Photo: Guy Vivien