ENSEMBLE LUNARIS AT CHAPEL SAINT-GERMAIN, CESSERAS: CONCERT REVIEW

Every once in a while, I have the pleasant experience of learning that someone actually reads these musings. I had that pleasure just the other night. A friend had come along to the Chapel Saint-Germain with us to attend the last concert of the season. Ensemble Lunaris had just gifted us with a wonderful evening of early music. As we left, my friend said,"I was reminded that you say that the most beautiful musical instrument is the voice of a woman."

It is. And it was that evening.

Anaïs Bertrand and Eva Zaïcik are the principle singers. Mélusine de Pas both plays the viole de gambe and joined in song at the beginning and end of the program to create stirring trios. And Myrrha Principiano contributed to each and every number on the clavecin. The ancient chapel seemed to have been configured just for this type of music. Without amplification and with a dais only an inch or two higher than floor level, every note traveled to the audience of 100 cleanly and clearly.

I know. This music is for a particular taste, requires a willing ear. But if this music moves you, the young ladies who have formed the Ensemble Lunaris are just the ticket. And tickets for the concerts at Chapel Saint-Germain are only 13 euros for what amounts to a private concert by artists of impeccable talent such as these. Alas, the season is over. Check in HERE in June next year for the first concert of 2018. And as for Ensemble Lunaris, you'll find a Facebook page that is not particularly up to date HERE.

Comments

RESTAURANT TEN, UZES: RESTAURANT REVIEW

Ten sits just off the market square in Uzes, one of the prettiest villages in southern France. The newly renovated space is airy and comfortable with tables of sufficient size and sufficiently spaced to provide for a pleasant dining experience. Service was cheerful, fully bilingual, and attentive without being overbearing. The food presented well to both eye and tongue. And the rate of approximately 30 € per person for a party of five included starters, mains, a dessert or two, two bottles of local wine, and coffees at the finish. Reasonable if not cheap eats. So why am I hesitant to give an unqualified thumbs up? It took me a while to figure it out. Uzes is a quintessentially French village in a quintessentially French region of southern France. There are those who will say that the Languedoc is just as beautiful but less crowded and less expensive than its eastern neighbors. I know. I'm one of those people. But the fact remains that for many people, villages like Uzes are t

Kreuz Market vs. Smitty’s Market: Texas Barbecue in Lockhart

I was born and raised in New Jersey. I didn’t taste Texas barbecue until I was twenty-two years old. What the hell do I know about barbecue? And what could I add to the millions of words that have been written on the subject? Well, I know a bit about food. I’ve managed to check out a few of the finer joints in Texas – Sonny Bryan’s Smokehouse in Dallas, Joe Cotton’s in Robstown before the fire, the dear departed Williams Smokehouse in Houston, and the incomparable New Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Huntsville . So I can speak from a reasonably wide experience. This will not be a comprehensive discussion of the relative merits of Texas barbecue as opposed to the fare available in places like Memphis or the Carolinas. It’s simply a take on our recent visits to Lockhart and the relative merits of Smitty’s versus Kreuz from our point of view. I’ll get all over academic in a later post. On our way out to the ranch in Crystal City, we stopped at Smitty’s. You have to look

LE CHAT QUI PECHE (THE CAT THAT FISHES), ARGELIERS: RESTAURANT REVIEW

You would think that after over five years of searching for restaurants serving good food at reasonable prices, I would have made my way to Le Chat Qui Peche before now. After all, it's only about ten minutes from our house, in a beautiful spot along the Canal du Midi. But it took a friend to suggest that we would like the place. So we went. And we did. Port-Argeliers isn't much a port, just a spot along the Canal du Midi that boats use as a stopping place. Like a town that might be described as just a wide spot in the road, there hardly seems to be a reason for it to exist other than the fact that it does. So Le Chat Qui Peche, at the foot of a narrow but driveable bridge over the canal, commands a view of the canal that can't reasonably be described as bustling and scenery that might best be described as bucolic. We were among the first to arrive on a lazy summer day, breezy so we chose an outdoor table with less of a view but sheltered. Our server practiced his

France, Food, Scooters and More

Search This Blog