The view from the sofa, my thoughts on corridas I
have watched on TV.
Alcurrucén bulls for Morante de la Puebla, El Juli and Sebastián Castella.
Morante paid for his decision to
only appear in a single corrida this San Isidro with a poor lot of Alcurrucén
bulls. The opening animal was a beautiful burraco. It gave acceptable single
charges, Morante did not look to stay
still and link – the animal was unlikely to yield a repetitive charge
and Morante was not going to risk
finding out. Morante's second opponent was flat. He gave a couple of flaps of the
muleta and headed for the sword. While the crowd jeered this decision, I
applauded it – corridas are too long because toreros lack a sense of measure.
If the bull is not up to a faena, the matador should take the sword as soon as
possible, if not we are left with the type of long and inane faena we regularly
endure.
Although, in light of the bulls he faced, we can
find little fault in Morante’s afternoon,
I must be critical of his current MO. A torero of Morante's stature should be one of the pillars of San Isidro, not a footnote. The
pages of taurine history are written in Las Ventas and Sevilla, not the
provinces. The provinces are the lifeblood of the temporada, yes, but triumphs in
the principal rings mark a torero’s path. As such, the figuras should be
appearing several times in each of Sevilla and Las Ventas and the impresarios
of each plaza must have the wherewithal
to ensure that thisis the case.
Rant over, I turn my attention to El Juli. The planning for his feria gets a pass, barely, for
choosing to appear in a mano a mano with Perera. It would be better for Julián
to be on three cartels, but at least he is facing five bulls. Unfortunately,
none of his two animals this afternoon gave him the chance to triumph. He tried to impose his
low, slow and long concept to his first bull, but it lacked the vigour to
accept this demanding toreo. It was a noble animal, but lacked the motor to allow El Juli to fully express himself.
El Juli’s toreo de capote to the fifth
bull was an exercise in determination. He was determined to torear a la
veronica as soon as the bull entered the ring, and would not accept that the
bull was disinterested. It was a cold, Nuñez type entry, so El Juli waited in the centre of the ring
and the bul explored its new surroundings. Eventually, the bull came round and
he was able to give some very low veronicas – El Juli’s concept of toreo is all about taking the bull as low as
possible. His opening veronicas today showed this perfectly and his quite by veronicas further
explored this aim. El Juli
completed his intervention with the capote through a series of lovely gaoneras
a compass abierto. Castella replied with some still saltilleras – a lively
quite rivalry for the crowd to enjoy. The bull was classy but weak. El Juli was hopeful that his precise
timing would be able to give the bull the strength its legs lacked, and he did
manage some very low and slow series of derechazos. His delicate muleta and
smooth technique kept the bull on its feet and charging with class. The crowd
was, however, dismissive in light of the bull’s lack of motor. Ultimately they
were correct. The animal lost most of its verve after the initial couple of
series en redondo. El Juli tried to
lift the faena with an arrimón, but there was little more he could do. Like
Perera, Julián heads into next Tuesday’s mano a mano needing to stamp his authority
on the feria.
Castella greeted his first bull with a lovely
series of veronicas – low, smooth and well-linked, capped by an emphatically
silky media veronica. He also worked a couple of even slower veronicas into an
attractive quite. Thus far the bull had shown to be classy. Morante saw this too and gave us three
inconsistent veronicas (two were excellent, the third, untidy) and a beautiful
larga. Castella waited for the bull in the centre of the ring (he had to wait,
briefly, for the bull to chase his banderillas, like a puppy chasing its tail)
to give it his characerista passes cambiados. The series was simply sensational
– eleven passes, cambiados, de pecho, trincherazos, molinetes, all sorts,
tightly worked and seamlessly linked. The toreo fundamental that followed was
supreme. Castella’s toreo en redondo has taken a qualitative step up over the
past year, today was further confirmation of this. The naturales were better
than the derechazos, but all of the series were full of long passes, perfectly
timed, excellently linked and long. It is comparitatively easy to link three
passes and then give a chest pass, it is much harder to go beyond this and
carry on performing passes as the bull’s path winds tighter towards the
torero’s body. However, this is where the true emotion of toreo en redondo
lies, layering passes, and layering the emotion over a whole series. Castella’s
faena was a lesson in this. As he reached the end of the faena, I thought he might
conclude with an arrimón. I was wrong. His left handed doblones to cap the
faena were profound and the perfect bow on his superlative faena.
The full estocada was desprendida, which
caused some to protest the concession of the second ear, I thought that the faena
thoroughly deserved the Puerta Grande. Today was Castella’s signature faena in
Madrid, far better than the 2007 performance that opened the famous gate for
him for the first time. In 2007 Castella was the in-form
figura, by 2015 his star has faded slightly; however, if he can continue to
produce this type of faena, he will be perfectly able to rival the likes of El Juli and Perera. The bull was given a
fully merited vuelta al ruedo.
The sixth bull showed few signs of bravery of class
in the opening tercios. It was therefore surprising to see Castella begin the
faena sat on the boards – although, this merely served to show the clarity of mind with
which Castella is currently toreando. The first couple of series were clean
and, gave me hope that Castella might be able to craft a faena from this bull.
This was a mirage, the animal soon gave up the ghost and we were left with the
enduring memory of his wonderful first faena.
The Alcurrucén bulls were a disappointment, but the
dignity of the divisa was saved by the wonderful third bull. It was the type of
bull that fills a corrida on its own. Its five brothers may have been dull, but
we will remember brave Jabatito for a long time.
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