Carcassonne: Giusy Caruso performs Hommage à Jacques Charpentier – Letter from Brigitte François-Sappey, musicologist

Did I tell you that I attended an extraordinary event on 26 November 2016 at Carcassonne: listening to Jacques Charpentier’s 72 Etudes Karnatiques by the Italian pianist Giusy Caruso? With an exemplary concentration and mastery, she faced, in a single concert, the Himalayas of piano literature. In three one-hour acts, she performed the twelve cycles to a bewildered audience, not knowing what to admire most: the masterly work or the exploit of the beautiful interpreter. Drawing from the roots of a civilization, still alive more than ever, the Carnatic epic sparkled in a “multiple / glow” by pyrotechnic contrasts of timbres, attacks and dynamics. A real sonorous fresco where each scene has its history, its character, its meaning.

Throughout this exhilarating concert, I had the feeling of reliving the unforgettable moments when Yvonne Loriod unveiled – as in a suspended time – the immense creations of Olivier Messiaen and where the audience vibrated in tune with the interpreter.

And that’s not all … The prowess of Giusy Caruso, that she renews around the world, is part of her demanding artistic work as a researcher / interpreter.

Am I not right in bringing closer the two composers as well as their valiant interpreters?

                                                                                                             Brigitte François-Sappey