Silvia Pérez Cruz, mermaid and captain at the Liceu

Barcelona"Vinyl record factories are slow," said Silvia Pérez Cruz to explain the unique nature of Wednesday's concert at the Liceu. Indeed, the record Oral_Abyssal (Sony), which has been registered for some time, will be released on May 8th. Therefore, except for the tracks Dark, Captain and Liquid As a preview, the audience that filled the theater was unfamiliar with much of the repertoire he performed. This added a degree of anticipation for the spectators, and surely some unease for the artist from Palafrugell.

However, the result, a combination of mystery and determination, was excellent, not only as evidenced by the numerous ovations received throughout the two-hour performance, but also by the superb vocal, musical, and stage presence (with some twenty musicians on stage) and by the song selection, including "2025" with Salvador Sobral, and the moving adaptation of Miquel Martí i Pol's poem. You have little. and Love resumes its rights; The chacarera of the stones, from the album with Juan Falú, and the version ofHymn to love by Édith Piaf, with whom she recalled performing a few weeks ago at the Olympia in Paris, a venue, she said, where many of the artists she admires have performed. However, she did not include any songs from monumental and demanding All of life, one day (2023)

A "two-texture" album in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese that "is about transformation, perhaps to go to the same place," and includes laments like Dead Sea, the material ofOral_Abyssal She received various musical and stage treatments. On a stage covered with a black cloth, she began as part of a quartet with Marta Roma (cello), Carlos Monfort (violin), and Bori Albero (double bass). The harmony between the four is impressive. In fact, they could improvise endlessly. In this first section, in addition to a You have little. Full of emotional twists and turns and gut-wrenching moments like the howls in the final part, it stood out In a cornerLess impressive was Dark...as pleasing as the background music of a Pedro Almodóvar film. Alone with her guitar, she delivered the first two great moments of the night: one Hymn to love stratospheric culminating with fragments of Enrique Morente - Leonard Cohen - Federico García Lorca, and the premiere ofAnd sad nursery, his loveA recital by Silvia Pérez Cruz, a singer who has created a school of her own and masters intonation, attack, and tempo like no other. She didn't say so, but she seemed to be asserting herself as a vocal pharaoh. "I am part of a chain of women's voices," she conceded modestly, and cited Carme Canela as her first and foremost influence.

With the black curtain removed, white illuminated the stage. The quartet gave way to a chamber ensemble, with viola, horns, flutes, piano, and a heart of eight female voices, including those of Anna Ferrer, Eva Fernández, Rusó Sala, and Lola Cruz, Silvia Pérez Cruz's daughter. In the suite Sea of ​​CatalinaWith its strong choral presence and daring harmonic flourishes, the author's talent as a musical director emerged. Dressed in evening wear. The percussion of The chacarera of the stones, the three fallopian tubes of Liquid and the rope and metal pillow of Love resumes its rights These were some significant details of the commitment with which he approaches live performance, a commitment even more commendable to CaptainThe song, a tribute to women, both "mermaids and captains" who act with determination and pave the way, uses the voice as an instrument without limits, challenging the other instruments, including Lucía Fumero's piano. She does it effortlessly, with the same naturalness with which she smiles when explaining that The low blow It's an old composition that he's finally decided to release now, and whose lyrics "are all fiction." Fiction or not, nobody would want to be the target of the reproaches he hurls in the song.

In the final part, in which he recovered Little wickThe Liceu was fully engaged, completely captivated by the energy and talent emanating from the stage. The moment had arrived. Red rooster, black roosterChicho Sánchez Ferlosio's version. She can sing it alone. a cappellaWith the dignity of a lone hero, yet, despite having some twenty musicians and singers at his side, he chose to make it a choral performance, asserting the power of collective singing. Although predictable, the ovation resonated with particular intensity, as did the farewell applause afterward. TomorrowSilvia Pérez Cruz, perhaps freed from the extreme demands of All of life, one day, she begins a new stage of joy and glory as a mermaid and captain.