By THIRSTY
Ottavio Dantone is an
internationally-renowned, award-winning Italian conductor and recording artist.
Since 1996, he has been the Music Director of the Accademia Bizantina in
Ravenna, Italy, with a special concentration in historical music performances
and recordings from the Baroque period.
Delphine Galou is a much
sought-after European opera star known for her work in music from the Baroque
period. Her vocal technique combined with a commanding presence has distinguished
her performances of virtuoso roles throughout Europe and in the U.S. at venues
including Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Angers Nantes Opéra, Opéra de
Montpellier, Royal Opera House London, Theater St Gallen, Theater Basel, Handel
Festival in Karlsruhe, Schwetzingen Festival, Staatsoper Berlin, Theater an der
Wien, the Maggio Musicale in Firenze and Lincoln Center.
Stay Thirsty Magazine
was thrilled to visit with Ottavio Dantone and Delphine Galou, husband and
wife, at their country house outside of Paris for this Conversation about their
roles in the Vivaldi Edition and their respective careers.
STAY
THIRSTY: How did you become involved in the Vivaldi Edition
project?
DELPHINE
GALOU: My involvement in
this amazing Vivaldi recording project began when I first met Susan Orlando in
2011. She proposed that I sing a role in Vivaldi's opera Il Teuzzone to
be recorded with Jordi Savall and our collaboration has continued ever since
then, with Federico Sardelli (Orlando furioso), then with Ottavio
Dantone (L’Incoronazione di Dario, Il Giustino), and my two solo
recordings which were recently released, “Arie e cantate per contralto” and “Musica
sacra per contralto”. This fall I will be recording Vivaldi's opera Argippo with
Fabio Biondi and Bajazet with Ottavio again in February.
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| Delphine Galou |
STAY
THIRSTY: What attracts you to
the compositions of Vivaldi?
OTTAVIO
DANTONE: Personally, I am
fascinated by Vivaldi's capacity to maintain a completely personal and unique
style made up of formulas and autocitations that are recognizable by all, and
at the same to create musical situations that are always new and surprising.
Moreover, his ability to evoke a wide spectrum of emotions in each listener
places him among the greatest of artistic communicators of all times.
STAY
THIRSTY: You are known for
your performances by composers Handel, Bach and Vivaldi. As a performer, do you
prepare differently depending on the composer? What are the stylistic characteristics
and demands placed on a performer by each of these composers?
DELPHINE
GALOU: Naturally, I always
sing with the same voice which doesn't change from one composer to another, but
I do try to conform to each composer's personal and ethnic style (German,
Italian, English, etc.) adapting, for example, the variations in the da capos.
I adore singing Bach who is surely the hardest to perform in terms of
intonation and tessitura. By contrast, Handel is always easier for me because
his coloratura writing perfectly fits my voice. Vivaldi requires both great
agility and extreme control in the slow arias, but I find that his music is
always vivacious and full of life which in turn gives me the energy to perform
it.
STAY
THIRSTY: Your discography includes
audio recordings of works by Handel, Haydn, Bach and Vivaldi, to name just a
few. How do the works of Vivaldi stand up to the others? What makes Vivaldi’s
work timeless?
OTTAVIO
DANTONE: Notwithstanding the
philological and aesthetic respect necessary in order to maintain intact and
effective his language, the music of Vivaldi presents a notable evocative force
and hides symbols and influences of many origins, which succeed in stimulating
the imagination even of modern interpreters.
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| Ottavio Dantone |
STAY THIRSTY: In addition to performing, you have made an extensive number of audio recordings. Do you prefer live performances or working in the recording studio? Do you ever want to go back and re-record a CD when you listen to it years later? How has your voice and technique changed over time?
DELPHINE
GALOU: I love live
performances and staged operas (when there is a good stage director!). Entering
into a character on stage gives one the opportunity to explore more facets of
oneself and is always very enriching. Singing the role of a man for example
(which I do very often) is a very interesting experience. Once you have played
a male role in a staged opera, I find you can do it in a concert version of the
opera giving more credibility to the character.
In my
opinion, to sing a role convincingly in front of a microphone in a recording
studio one must first have the experience of interpreting the role live where
one is fully invested in the music and not thinking only about the notes.
Ideally,
I’d like to re-record my first CDs because I’ve always tried to improve my
technique and I think I sing better now than fifteen years ago. But a career is
like a journey and thinking back on it should be like flipping through a photo
album: you can see you have changed but it’s always you. One needs to be happy
in the present moment and live it with joy.
STAY
THIRSTY: You are known not
only for your role as a conductor, but also as a master of the harpsicord and
the fortepiano. How does your background as a musician inform your work as a
conductor?
OTTAVIO
DANTONE: The harpsichord is an
instrument with few dynamics, and therefore expressive, possibilities. This
forces the interpreter to search for infinite technical or rhythmic-expressive
shades, some even very small, in order to give the instrument maximum
communicative possibilities.
When I am conducting an orchestra and voices, it is natural for me to
observe even minimal particulars and to search for the deepest rhetorical
significances. Having an expressive instrument allows me to obtain the result
which is dearest to me: to create emotions in the listeners.
STAY THIRSTY: In addition to audio recordings for the
Vivaldi Edition, there are videos. You appear in a very dramatic video entitled
“Accademia Bizantina - Antifona Salve Regina RV 618 - A. Vivaldi.” What did you
want that video to accomplish for the project? What feelings do you want people
to take away from watching it?
DELPHINE
GALOU: I must say that since
the first video we did for my solo CD, “Agitata,” I have always trusted our
artistic team. Often, I discover the universe they want to create for a video
on the day of the shooting! For the Salve Regina video, the idea was the idea
of sacred in a large sense, closer to a state of the soul, a feeling of
contemplation. Associating a video with classical music is a rather recent
development, but it should enhance the work in the same way that video clips do
for pop music where the images are evocative and are there to set the stage for
people to let their imagination go.
STAY
THIRSTY: As Music Director of
the Accademia Bizantina, how do you see your role in shaping audience
understandings of Baroque music? Do you feel the need to educate or challenge
your audiences and how do you keep them coming back?
OTTAVIO
DANTONE: I think it is
important to have an educated and prepared public to listen to Baroque music,
but I believe that the rules that regulate the emotive reactions of any
listener, even those not specialized, are still intact in Baroque music today.
The real challenge is not so much the public as the importance for the
interpreter to maintain the greatest intellectual and artistic honesty,
striving to study and understand accurately the aesthetics, the history and the
habits of the past in order to grasp the real legacy of a composer and to offer
to all the truest, strongest and most intact emotion possible.
STAY
THIRSTY: How does working
together when you are married to each other change the dynamics of a
performance or a recording?
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| Delphine Galou and Ottavio Dantone |
DELPHINE
GALOU: Rehearsals at home
are tough and demanding. That said, we are very compatible in making music
together. Working with the person you love is a dream.
OTTAVIO DANTONE: I
have the great fortune to have a wife who is a singer. It allows me to study in
depth and close-up all the complex technical and physical mechanics demanded in
the art of singing. Our work together has taught me a great deal and has
further deepened my experience. In the vocal field, and in Baroque music in
general, one endlessly continues to learn.
Clearly, in concerts and recordings there is a strong bond between us
which contributes in making our emotions all the more intense and authentic.
(Delphine Galou and Ottavio Dantone photo credits: Giulia Papetti; Ottavio Dantone courtesy of Accademia Bizantina)
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