The view from the sofa, my thoughts on corridas I have watched on TV.
As pretty much the sole remaining Nuñez bulls in the ferias, I am always intrigued by a string of Alcurrucén bulls. They can be inconsistent, given the size of the ganadería, but they generally provide for varied an interesting behaviour. I was also looking forward to seeing Paco Ureña and Juan del Álamo after seeing a couple of good performances from each this summer.
The corrida’s opening bull was a mobile and tough opponent. He transmitted danger with each charge, and possessed the strength and endurance to give the bullfighter a tough assignment. Despite a slightly inconsistent performance, I felt Ureña was mostly up to task. The faena began with some doblones with the aim of reducing the bull’s vigour, following which, Pacoo changed terrains to the centre of the ring and set to perform fundamental toreo. Given the bull’s lack of class, it was difficult to perform well structure toreo en redondo, but Ureña did he best to link emotive series with the right hand, re-setting his footing between each pass as necessary. As the faena wore on Paco shortened the distance to the bull with mixed results. If Ureña kept the muelta in front of him close to the bull’s face, he was fine, but when he hid the muleta behind his body, in an apparent show of bravery, the torero found himself unable to control the bulls properly. The faena concluded with some well executed circulares and a very emotive estocada. The standing ovation he received was a testament to the fact that he had faced up to a brave bull and emerged intact.
Adame’s first bull seemed reticent to charge, but when it did so it came with commitment. The bull required a heavy call between each pass in order to link toreo en redondo, and when Adame managed to find the correct distance and call between the pass he was able to seemlessly link emotive toreo. However, he was only able to do soacheive this on a few occasions, and never during a whole series. As usual, the figure of eight arrimón was greeted with more enthusiasm than his toreo en redondo. Adame’s performance had been of interest, but too inconsistent to be entirely pleasing. I could have also done without the concluding manoletinas, in my view they added nothing to the faena, besides, he had already dragged it on for a few minutes too long.
The third bull of the afternoon displayed a marked mansedumbre during the first tercio and was very reticent to charge at the horse; to compound matters, he was placed too far from the horse for the second pic leading to an overly protracted lidia. Fortunately, the bull’s charge greatly improved for the muleta – it was somewhat reticent to charge, but when it did, he did so with his head held low and with class. Del Álamo unlocked the noble charge by ensuring that he kept the muleta in the bull’s face throughout and he executed three good series of derechazos that had the public calling for music. By the time Juan took the left hand, the bull’s charge was fading, but he managed some long and pleasing naturales that sparked up the band. It had started playing too late, the faena was done and del Álamo was only able to execute another couple of good naturales. The faena had not been a complete performance by any measure, but it had been the afternoon’s most emotive faena thus far. For once del Álamo managed a clean estocada that gave way to a petition for an ear that was not granted (in my view the faena was probably a notch below what is needed to cut an ear in Bilbao).
Ureña’s second bull also showcased manso tendencies during the tercio de pics, but, like its predecessor, arrived at the muleta with a very good charge. The bull was vibrant and committed, allowing Paco to perform three excellent series of derechazos to begin the faena. He kept the muleta in the bull’s face between each pass, and performed low, long and well linked toreo en redondo. It was an excellent example of exciting toreo en redondo. Ureña’s toreo al natural was equally emphatic, and although the bull was losing some impetus, the faena remained emotive. If, with the first bull, Ureña had shown his willingness to stand up to a tough bull, here he displayed his ability to torear very well with the muelta. Two bernadinas and a couple of chest passes were a pleasing coda to a well worked faena. Although he managed to execute an estocada, it was too low and would lost him the ear his toreo deserved, even without the two descabellos he needed to kill the bull.
The fifth bull had a wonderful charge for the muleta. It was rhythmic, noble and classy, with the requisite repetitiveness to allow for well linked toreo. Adame managed to exploit these qualities to perform three very good series en redondo, his derechazos were smooth and well-timed, and correctly linked to create greatly emotive series. The good work continued with the left hand, the bull’s charge was pure sweetness and Adame matched this with his clean muletazos. Back to the right hand, and the bull continued to charge tirelessly without losing any of its class – an excellent bull for a potentially great faena de muleta. In the circumstances, Adame performed at a good level, but, unfortunately, his toreo lacked the class and repose to perform the great faena that the bull’s charge deserved. Despite the full estocada the bull stayed on his feet for a long time and resisted with all his might the death that slowly overcame him. As the crowd petitioned for an ear, which was duly granted, I was left dreaming of what might have been with a bull of this quality – hopefully we will see a few more of this ilk in the remainder of the feria.
Thankfully, we only had to wait until the next bull for a repeat. The sixth animal was another wonderful opponent, and one that displayed the valued Nuñez trait of having an extra yard of charge in the muleta which it combined with a noble and classy manner. The excellence of the charge allowed del Álamo to construct a good faena marked by its well-executed and smooth toreo en redondo. However, as with Adame, I had the impression that the faena lacked a measure of repose and structure that would have elevated it to the level that the bull’s charge called for. That is not to say that del Álamo did not perform good toreo, on the contrary, there was a string very good isolated passes, with both the right and left hand, and the odd excellent series. However, it was all too inconsistent and rather than construct the faena towards a climax, the performance merely meandered until it was time for the kill, as he did so with a complete (although low) estocada, del Álamo cut the ear that his muleta work had merited. The bull, however, had been worth two.
At the conclusion I was left with the satisfaction of having enjoyed an excellent string of bulls. They maintained my interest throughout the corrida and the only bull that did not allow for good toreo, the opener, created the problems posed by the casta and, as such, captured my attention. Unfortunately, the bullfighters were a level below the bulls and we were unable to enjoy the magical afternoon that the bull’s charges warranetd. The toreros did not have a bad afternoon, per se, and they justified their inclusion in the feria; however, they showed themselves incapable of giving us the type of performances that would allow them to reach the next level in the taurine pecking order.
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