Youth and Age

national | arts and media | news report Monday September 27, 2004 17:29 by Sean Crudden sean.crudden at iol dot ie Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 087 9739945

Contrasts at the National Concert Hall

This performance at the NCH gave much food for thought.

The first two pieces performed by the Irish Chamber Orchestra on Sunday night in The National Concert Hall were:-
· Concerto Grosso Op.6 No4 in D Major by Arcangelo Corelli (1653 - 1713).
· The Married Beau by Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695).

Despite a lot of bobbing and weaving by Nicholas McGegan (conductor) at the keyboard in front of the orchestra it seemed to me that the performance did not rise above a lot of ordinary sawing. Perhaps a difficulty is that this kind of music - no matter how well it is performed - has not the capacity to exploit a large space like the main auditorium in the National Concert Hall.

These pieces were followed by Symphony No. 9 by John Kinsella (b. 1932). This performance was the world premier of a substantial piece of music in three movements the writing of which was completed in May 2004.

There were some nice chords in this piece and at some points the key (?) or the cadences were reminiscent of Irish music, I thought. There was some nice discussion in the music here and there. To my unsophisticated ear the music was accomplished and sweet. Some might deride the symphony as saccharine but I am not ashamed to say that I found it very appealing and I would definitely like to hear it again. The author took a bow at the end. He is no Liberace - his appearance and manner on stage was unpretentious and prosaic and he was dressed sensibly in an pale sports coat, pullover, shirt and dark trousers. He seemed genuinely happy with the way things went.

After the interval youth had its fling. We heard Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings in D minor by Felix Mendelssohn (1809 -1847). The twin soloists were Catherine Leonard and Finghin Collins.

Catherine looked stunning. Dressed in a full-length, strapless, deep blue, silky evening gown she had two pink rosebuds in her long, honey-coloured, curled hair. She has excellent, lithe stature which, I estimate, is on the larger side of petite.

I lost contact with the performance about mid-way through the second of the three movements but before that I was fairly enthralled by Catherine’s performance. I cannot complain about the rest of the performance because I don’t know what to say or whether to blame the performer or myself.

At the end of the performance she showed genuine warmth to her "partner" and to the orchestra and conductor but seemed to pay little regard to the audience or the applause.

Finghin Collins, despite his pale and slender looks, is, in my book, a very musical coon. He has proved himself before to be a dab hand at supporting a lady and he did it again here without ever trying to steal the limelight. He maintained the shape of the music and his playing was unfettered and idiomatic. It seems to me that there is a considerable musical intelligence at work in this young man’s brain and Catherine Leonard would undoubtedly benefit from further collaboration with him. The rest of us might be mightily entertained for they are a formidably complimentary couple of musicians.

Just a word or two about the venue:-
· There were noises down the back at a delicate stage (doors or something).
· An Oriental gentleman was wielding a digital camera in the row in front of me and the lit LCD screen was an annoying distraction.
· A scribe beside me (who did not appear for the second half) was making occasional notes with a scrapy pen on shuffling sheets of paper.
· Someone was peeping, during the performances, through the small window in the exit door stage right - a thoughtless and avoidable distraction.