Garcigrande bulls for Morante de la Puebla, José María Manzanares & Alejandro Talavante
The opening bull’s ungainly and uncertain
charge were no obstacle to Morante
leaving us three wonderful veronicas and a media. Good toreo, although we were
left with the question whether the bull’s gentle charge would last into the
muleta. These doubts continued during the tercio de varas, the bull received a
long, low pic in the first instance and barely a prick for the second pic. Although
Morante gave us some stylish passes
with the muleta, by this ercio the bull had become too subdued to allow for a
complete faena, our initial fears realised. Morante
concluded the faena as soon as he understood that the bull was fading. He received
a couple of token jeers, but I was grateful he did not unnecessarily extend the
faena.
Morante’s second bull had an uncomfortable charge. It
took two pics vigorously shaking its head at the horse. It followed the cape
with better style, allowing Morante
to sculpt a couple of lovely veronicas and a media. Carretero also gave a
couple of lovely long capotazos during the lidia. However, its difficulties appeared
once again as it charged at the banderilleros, cutting across the toreros
especially on the right side. This tendency cost Antonio Jiménez Lili a going during the last pair. The
bull’s charge was demanding, it would not easily give in the muleta, but when
it attacked it did so profoundly. It took Morante
until about mid-faena to fully find the measure of the bull for a fulls series.
Nevertheless, the early parts of the faena was characterised by individual
passes of excellent quality. As from mid-faena on, Morante felt confident enough with the bull to keep the cloth in
his face and commit to link his toreo en redondo. The series were short, but
extremely deep and intense. The highlight were an excellent series by derechazos,
a couple of wonderful naturales (capped with a dreamy molinete abelmontado) and
some concluding ayudados por alto to savour. Morante had certainly earned an ear for his work, but, one he took
the real sword, he decided to push for more. Unfortunately the bull became
rajado and difficult for the estocada – after a defective estocada and numerous
descabellos, he received three avisos and the bull was returned to the pen
(figuratively, in fact he was apuntillado in the ring). Notwithstanding, Morante received a great ovation,
although the ring was split as to whether he should have come out on to the
sand to receive the applause.
Manzanares first bull took an unstylish first pic and
gave a derribo with its second entry into the horse. Matters livened with the
quites. Talavante performed a series of relaxed and still gaoneras, while Manzanares replied with some tight
chicuelinas. A pleasing tercio and further anecdotal evidence that toreros are
feeling the need to be ever more involved with the cape. Rafa Rosa continued
the positive vibes with a couple of tight and risky pairs of banderillas, he deservedly
received a rousing round of applause which he received montera in hand. The bull
was mobile, with an edge of masedumbre that kept it threatening to break
towards its querencia in the boards. José Mari began with a series of test
passes, taking bull to the centre of the ring with aplomb. His first tanda of derechazos
well linked and low but unnecessarily short. The second series also continued
this theme three derechazos is far too few for a complete series, although Manzanares supplanted his short series
with a wonderfully elegant cambio de mano and chest pass. After testing the
bull’s left side, which was not as good as the right, the faena petered out
into nothing. Despite his flashes of bright toreo, José Mari had not extracted
the most from the bull.
This worrying trend (for Manzanares) continued with the fifth bull. José Mari began with
some cold veronicas. Talavante opted for a quite, which was short and subdued,
but capped with a wonderful larga. The faena de muleta was a non-entity. The
bull seemed to charge well, but Manzanares
was unable, or not confident enough, to try to link toreo en redondo. Once
again, the feeling was that, while the bull might not have been a torrent of
bravura, Manzanares had performed
below the level offered by the bull.
The original third bull was sent back to the
pens after injuring itself against the boards. The replacement had a raspy
charge to Talavante’s capote; Alejandro tried to time it with the cape and gave
a pleasing media. A couple of regulation
pics were followed by an excellent tercio de banderillas by Juan José Trujillo,
elegant and emphatic. Talavante started with a cartucho de pescao and a gentle
series of four naturales. Another slow series capped with a closed stance
molinete and a long, sweet chest pass. The bull was compliant, but retained a
certain raspy quality lacked the desire to follow the lures to the end of the pass.
In lightof the bull’s problems, Talvante’s faena was even more meritorious.
Alejandro linked his toreo en redondo with either hand smoothly. He gave some
aesthetically imposing remates por bajo and even sprinkled some of his Mexican
concepts such as the odd arrucina. Talavante capped his work with a wonderfully
slow estocada, where each movement was distinct and performed with timing to
savour. He was awarded a just ear for his faena – it was the faena of a figura
who knew it was his responsibility to perform to a high level today.
Talavante received the final bull of the
afternoon (and his final bull in Sevilla this season) with a series of pleasing
veronicas and a pretty media. The bull pushed well, with some nerve, at the
horse at the first pic, although the second was short, light and unslightly.
Talavante had no doubt in his mind that he would give the bull a good faena. He
had the conviction of a torero on top form. As such, he went straight to the centre
of the ring and waited there for the bull to charge; it came with mobility and
power allowing Alejandro to carve a pleasing opening series with the right
hand. The bull attended the lures well, but lacked the stamina and commitment to
lower its head through each charge and its impetus declined as the series
progressed. Therefore, despite the promising start, it seemed that the faena
would dissipate without much fuss. Talavante, however, had other ideas. He extracted
a very meritorious faena from the bull. He stood in the right terrain to make
the bull charge, he kept the muleta placed perfectly between each pass to
ensure ligazón and he timed the bull exquisitely. The allowed him to extract
excellent series with each hand and earn the respect of the crowd. He would
have cut his second ear of the afternoon but for poor sword work.
Some might conclude that today’s corrida was
disappointing. I would respectfully disagree. Disappointment is, of course, entirely
relative, if one was expecting a resounding triumph from one or more of the
performers, he or she might have been disappointed. However, within the context
of what one can reasonably expect from a taurine spectacle in 2016, I enjoyed
the corrida. Aside from the three worthy faenas de muleta, we enjoyed an
involved tercio de quites from Talavante and Manzanares, excellent toreo a la veronica from Morante, risky and emotive banderillas from Trujillo and Rafa Rosa,
a good lidia from José Antonio Carretero and even a stark reminder of the risks
taken by toreros in the shape of poor Lili’s
goring. Of course, contemporary taurine reductionism, reducing everything to the
faena de muleta, means that these details are dismissed when considering one
appraisal of the corrida, adding to the feeling of disappointment. There is
also the modern tendency on blaming everything on the bulls (a tendency which
seemed particularly prevalent today in excusing Manzanares’ performance). I am not going to sing the praises of a
frankly average string of Domingo Hernandez bulls. However, Talavante’s
performance today was clear proof that when a torero is on form, he can give
each bull its lidia and create an emotive spectacle with it. Therefore, today I
am ending my review with a positive message, sometimes I get bogged down in
picking holes in a performance – today I wanted to focus on the positive little
details that characterised he afternoon. Now, if only we had enjoyed an excellent
bull and a great faena…
No comments:
Post a Comment