Johnny B. Goode

national | miscellaneous | news report Tuesday November 11, 2008 12:31 by Sean Crudden - impero sean at impero dot iol dot ie Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 087 9739945

De Senectute

Sunday afternoon's concert in The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, featured The Scharoun Ensemble Berlin. It was promoted by the Association of Music Lovers (AML) with the assistance of the Goethe-Institut and the co-operation of the Board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA).

Making their first visit to Ireland since April 2007 The Scharoun Ensemble Berlin gave a generous recital in the great hall of The Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, on Sunday 9 November 2008 beginning at 3.30 p.m. in the afternoon and continuing after a 15 minute interval until 5.50 p.m.

Program

Mozart (1756 - 1791). Horn Quintet in E flat major K.417

Weber (1786 - 1826). Clarinet Quintet in B flat major, Op.34

Interval

Schubert (1797 - 1828). Octet in F, D.803

The personnel in the ensemble is unchanged since their last visit. See the link. These players are to the manner born. They are fit, relaxed like someone on holidays, serious, extremely alert and intelligent. They are a remarkable combination. And they worked hard on Sunday and gave it everything. I made the journey from Jenkinstown, grappled with traffic and bladder discomfort but I am glad I made the effort. It was a delight and a privilege to see and hear this performance.

I could listen to the horn player all day. He has a witty and commanding presence. The clarinet player is a builder and he knows exactly how to make a point. Apart from the structure of his playing he created some beautiful sounds especially here and there in the final work.

There is some extra indefinable dimension about The Scharoun Ensemble. They are like a good class in school. One has the same feeling observing them as young parents might have whose children are good. I don’t just mean that they are conventional. They are human, civilised, able, collaborative, clean-cut, oilte. If they are not every mother’s dream then they are certainly every father’s dream.

The reason I did not write this report yesterday is that I was attending in The Fairways Hotel, Dundalk, a conference on "Louth Age Friendly Initiative. Acknowledging Louth as an Age Friendly County." There were 200 people there and they could not have a better exemplar than John A Ruddock who was the main organiser behind Sunday’s concert. John has been chief cook and bottle washer with The Limerick Music Association/Association of Music Lovers (LMA/AML) for over 40 years. In my book he is a thaumaturge.