The view
from the sofa, my thoughts on corridas I have watched on TV.
Montalvo bulls for Diego Ventura,
Miguel Ángel Perera & Alejandro Talavante
After the disastrous
string of Monalvo bulls we saw in Santander and Madrid, my hopes were tempered
in advance of this corrida. However, most ganaderías can manage to produce the
odd good string of bulls (even if by sheer dumb luck) and the line-up of
toreros invited positive thinking. Besides, I always try to be optimistic in my
afición and, perhaps naively, try find interest in most cartels. So as I sat
down before the TV I thought of the reports I had heard of good Montalvos and
of Perera and Talavante’s potentially excellent toreo.
Miguel Ángel Perera’s
first bull displayed nobility but weakness the opening tercios. He used the
noble condition to perform a closely worked and measured quite by chicuelinas.
In the circumstances it was a pleasing and welcome quite. As the clarions
sounded for the tercio de muleta we were left wondering, how long will the bull
last? In light of the bull’s weak condition, the well-executed estatuarios were
perhaps not the ideal beginning, however the first couple of softly timed
series of derechazos were far more suitable. The faena was at a crossroads – if
the bull was able to showcase endurance and bravery we could see a good performance,
but the fear with these noble bulls is that their charges dissipate after the
opening gambit. Perera took the muleta in his left hand and, despite trying to
create a miracle with his timing, it was not to be. The faena, ultimately, was
a non-entity.
Perera’s second was an
invalid that spent more time sliding across the sand than chargin on its feet.
He spent to long trying to torear, even though the bull was running on empty;
it may have been best to shorten our afternoon by five minutes and pick up the
sword sooner. It’s unfortunate that the expectation of seeing the season’s
leading torero was entirely undermined by a string of rotten bulls.
Fortunately, the Gijón crowd had another opportunity to enjoy his toreo on
Sunday, unfortunately, Canal Plus only broadcast the first three corridas of
the feria.
Talvante’s first bull was
far better (relatively speaking). It was not as strong as one might hope, but
its charge was lively, noble and repetitive; it was the ideal bull for
Talavante’s silky smooth toreo. He began the faena with a couple of right hand
series that were well linked and capped with bright remates. It was Talavante’s
toreo at its best: relaxed, unaffected and aesthetically pleasing. The bull did
not respond as well to toreo on the left side, and as such his toreo al natural
was less clean. The conclusions of the series with the left hand, were, once
again, inspired. As a whole the faena was marked by Talavante’s inspired
adornments rather than by the intense fundamental toreo of the opening couple
of series. Talavante tried to complete his faena by extracting passes from a
short distance but, by then, the bull was exhausted. The estocada was executed
with the slowness of his toreo, but he required the descabello to kill the
bull. Nevertheless, Talavante was justly awarded an ear for his pretty faena.
Alejandro received his
final bull with a pleasing series of veronicas, that was concluded with a
couple of nice medias and a very pretty larga. The good performance with the
capote continued into the first tercio with a lively galleo by chicuelinas to
take the bull to the horse. The start of the faena was wonderfully creative.
Talavante began with some estatuarios por alto but, after noting that these were
not apt for the bull’s weak condition, he switched to a beautiful set of
ayudados por bajo, capped off with a fabulous natural a pies junto and a
molinete with the left hand. The bull, without being great, had a vibrant and
emotive charge that allowed for moving fundamental toreo. On this occasion, the
fundamental toreo shone above the remates and the faena was the better for it.
The series, with both the right and left hand, were well linked and continued
to be characterised by Talavante’s naturally silky toreo. They were peppered
with some attractive remates that complimented the fundamental toreo perfectly.
A final series of manoletinas was the prelude to an emphatic estocada and a
strongly merited ear.
I enjoy the communion between
man, horse and bull that is created by rejoneo, but I feel completely under
qualified to make any meaningful comments about it. I will just say that
Ventura cut three ears, and I enjoyed his performance as a compliment to the spectacle
a pie.
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