Festival 2010
19, 20, 21 February 2010

Belfast Telegraph RATHCOL REVIEW Friday 19th February 2010

The Belfast Music Society used to present an annual series of chamber music concerts throughout the season. Now it telescopes nearly all of them all into one weekend festival. With the help of the BBC, the festival brings together a top class group of musicians under one theme – this year, Folk Inspirations.
Alexander Baillie (cello) and James Lisney (piano) gave the opening recital on Friday 19th February in the Great Hall at Queen’s. Martinu’s Variations on a Slovak Theme provided an arresting introduction. His strikingly unique harmonic progressions were punctuated by alternately lyrical and more rhythmical passages, a fine vehicle for Baillie and Lisney to display their worth.

Baillie produces a light but carrying tone, rich in the emotional propensities associated with this most romantic of instruments. In Chopin’s Sonata for cello, a perfect balance was struck with the piano, due to the gloriously controlled accompaniment of Lisney. How could one be surprised by the intimate musical interaction from such an established partnership as this?

If the Chopin work explored both familiar tracks and less trodden byways of the anniversary composer’s late style in a polished performance, then E.J.Moeran’s cello sonata also caught the attention through its unfamiliarity but darker hues. More a sonata in name rather than form, its subtle Irish overtones were tempered by an English romanticism fully portrayed by this dynamic duo.

Schumann provided perhaps the least challenging music of the evening but none the less enjoyable for that. A stimulating start to the BMS weekend of concerts.
Four Stars

RATHCOL (Philip Hammond)

As the Belfast Music Society’s 2010 International Festival of Chamber Music kicks off, an ensemble of musicians grace the stage in the beautiful and grand surroundings of Queen’s University’s Great Hall. Beneath the gaze of many of the university’s most distinguished alumni hanging on the walls, including Seamus Heaney, internationally renowned cellist Alexander Bailie joined by pianist James Lisney get the weekend off to a start with a programme of folk influenced music from Martinu, Chopin, Moeran and Robert Schumann.

The festival’s theme, folk inspirations, looks to explore the link between folk melodies and the classical world. Famously composers such as Bela Bartok and Ralph Vaughan Williams were heavily inspired by the music of their respective homelands, and used them to great effect; for Bartok it was his String Quartets and Concerto for Orchestra which perhaps display this most vividly, for Vaughan Williams it was perhaps held more on his sleeve as he unashamedly wrote works such as the English Folksong Suite, Variations on a Theme of Thomas Tallis and of course Greensleeves.

But back to Friday evening’s programme, Bailie and Lisney begin with a performance of Martinu’s Variations on a Slovak Theme. Bohuslav Martinu is one of the most famous Czech composers, and in modern times is famous mainly for his chamber music output, writing many sonatas for instruments including flute, violin, cello, clarinet and trumpet. Alongside these, however, he had an enormous penchant for the dramatic and throughout his life wrote a staggering 15 operas, and 14 ballets, an achievement by any standard. His Variations on a Slovak Theme were written in 1959, his final year, and display a fondness for the instrument both through the technical, inventive and colorful writing as well as the fact it was one of a number of works he wrote for the cello (others include three sonatas, two concertos and other works for cello and piano). The music is distinctively eastern European, and relies heavily on the use of folk-like articulations within the composition. Martinu uses the theme effectively, utilizing the unorthodox harmonies and rhythmic jousting to full advantage, particularly in the thrilling scherzo and finale allegro movements.

Bailie certainly conjours up a feast of sounds from the cello, mirrored by a superb performance from James Lisney whose talents at the piano are as much part of the jousting as the cello. Both bring life to a piece rich with homage to folk song, and at the same time allow for the more polished characteristics of classicism to shine through.

Their second piece, Chopin’s Cello Sonata in G minor, is almost a polarized view of the ensemble through the eyes of a composer synonymous with clarity and grace. Frederik Chopin is arguably the greatest composer of the instrument, the piano that is, the cello he had a little more trouble with. The piece follows a fairly standard structure for a sonata, both instruments passing themes, melodies and phrases while at the same time allowing for some beautiful lyrical and harmonically interesting passages. There are, however, no definitive moments in the piece which hang in the air to astound, rather it is an essay on Chopin’s ability as a composer to write for the ensemble. Taking that into account, though, it must be said that the slow Largo movement is certainly a highlight of the work, and balances the cello’s deep and rich lower registers, with its sweet and sonorous upper range. Bailie’s interpretation of the music is suitably restrained, I think too much passion is perhaps not befitting of Chopin, whose music relies on just that, the music to provide the emotional and uplifting moments. Both players partnership on stage is seamless and certainly both show an awareness of the dialogue between their instruments.

After the interval we were treated to a rare performance of Moeran’s Cello Sonata. A composer, perhaps not heard of as much as others, Ernest Moeran’s music is deeply influenced by the music of both his maternal and paternal countries, namely England and Ireland, although the latter seems to have permeated more. This is also perhaps the reason why much of his music is lost in translation as his own distinctive and personal style is melded together by the folk influence resulting in music which, in its day, was regarded as non individualistic. All things considered, however, the Cello Sonata is a work which quintessentially sums up Moeran’s style, and shows a keen ear for the instrument (not surprising considering he was married to a cellist!). The work is crafted in a rather unorthodox style to that of a normal sonata; the movements have a fantasia feel to them, taking the music into different directions and perhaps not developing themes or melodies in the traditional way. Harmonically there is much chromaticism tinged with a romanticism reminiscent of impressionist music- Debussy and Ravel can certainly be heard in the piano’s part, but the cello has its own flavours, exploiting much of instrument’s character including pizzicato and double stopping techniques, providing a rich casket of colours to an already ‘exotic’-sounding piece. Both Bailie and Lisney enjoy this work, both players having their own voices in a work which has been described as “serious and clouded” due to the polarization of both instrument’s roles within the work. They have to work as individuals while at the same time find common musical ground in order for the piece to become a complete performance.

Robert Schumann’s 5 Stücke im Volkston (Five Pieces in a Folk Style) is one of those works that makes you smile. Full of inventive and whimsical musical sarcasm, the work is more of an essay on social parody than a serious contemplation of folk music. You can almost see Schumann sitting at the piano with a wry smile on his face as he pokes fun at musical conventions (courtly dances etc.) through coupling them with a folky style. The music is farcical, fun and at times lyrically archaic, but above all it is an excellent chamber work, with both cello and piano entering into little musical conversations and dialogues. T

To finish Bailie and Lisney perform another work by Moeran, his Prelude for Cello and Piano, the work Bailie claims he used to woo his then wife to be. The piece is certainly one for the heart strings, and has a meditative style evoking Irish landscapes. A beautiful tribute to his paternal homeland, and a fitting end to a fantastic evening of music from two outstanding players.

Aside from the concerts at the Great Hall at Queen’s University, the Belfast Music Society have also programme a selection of “Coffee Concerts” featuring the best in local talent from across the province to complement their programme of Folk Inspirations. On Sunday morning one such event held at the Radission Blu Hotel at the Gasworks in Belfast offered up a morning of musical exploration hosted and facilitated by composer and musician Neil Martin. Joining him was an ensemble of musicians from Northern Ireland playing violin, cello, oboe, flute, piano and harp.

Martin’s career has seen him perform music both on the classical stage as a concert Cellist as well as a traditional musician performing Uilleann Pipes and whistle, performing with such internationally renowned musicians and orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, Bryn Terfel and the London Philharmonic. As a composer his work has been performed by the Ulster Orchestra, chamber ensembles and film and TV soundtracks. Along with the musicians at the Radisson, he explains the important link between folk music and the classical world, and how for him personally one is the extension of the other, a place were both worlds can meet. One such exploration was a recent concert in Belfast in 2007 of his large scale work for choir and orchestra, Ossa, written for the anniversary of the Flight of the Earls performed by the Ulster Orchestra and Belfast Philharmonic Choir. Heavily influenced by Irish folk music, the piece is also quintessentially classical in style, and is a homage to both musical traditions.

Through looking at traditional Irish music, and its various styles including the use of sean-nos or “old-style” performance of creating a uniquely individual and personal articulation of a melody, he explains that the creation of new music is possible, and this is one way in which a new work can be formed from an older style. The morning took the form of a workshop as Martin takes the musicians through two works, one new and one old, shaping their performances both as an ensemble as well as individuals. Throughout the Autumn and Winter both composer and musicians have been working together towards the creation of the new work premiered informally at the event.

Martin’s new work is really a homage or ‘planxty’ to the traditional roots he is looking to explore, effectively displayed in an example where he calls upon classical violinist Stephen Cullen to play a short passage from one of the pieces, which is then followed by a more traditionally decorated rendition of the same passage by traditional violinists Rosie Ferguson and Seighean Darryl. The differences are certainly there, but so to is the original, and this distilled example is then taken to the fore when the perform both the new old works together at the end.

The event is a fantastic example of nurturing the musical heritage we have, and certainly reinforces the Belfast Music Society’s theme throughout the weekend. Hopefully in the future we will see many more events like this which looks to open up and develop new ways of thinking both about contemporary composition as well as collaboration between local musicians.

After a weekend of recitals dedicated to folk inspirations and influences, Mark Wilde and David Owen Norris present a programme in a similar vein, but with influences a little closer to home. To begin with, Schubert’s Die schone Mullerin presents a rather solmen and pastoral setting of the poetry of Müller, taken from Poems from the posthumous papers of a wandering horn-player. He wrote the work during a period of great personal angst, in 1823, but this does not translate fully into the music. Rather, the music is much more reflective in nature, a far cry from the turmoil the composer must surely have been experiencing in the wake of being diagnosed with syphilis.

Mark Wilde’s interpretation of the songs is also suitably somber, and gives a clear and ascetically pure sound which works well with David Owen Norris intuitive performance on the piano. Both men get to the heart of the music well, and challenge the listener with a dramatic portrayal of Schumann’s wandering lonely heart.

To follow, it was almost a certainty that in a weekend where folk music was so important that we would at some point be treated to one of Vaughan Williams’ works, and here it is- On Wenlock Edge. Often performed with String Quartet as well as piano, the piece is settings of poems by A E Houseman from his collection A Shropshire Lad. The music contains much of Vaughan Williams’ pastoral style, but not yet fully formed perhaps. At this stage in his life he is still influenced by the impressionist world, in particular Ravel with whom he spent time studying with in Paris. But his homeland does make appearances in flavoring the music, and the piece is certainly a triumph. Again Wilde and Owen Norris create the atmosphere Vaughan Williams is looking to bring to life, the English countryside, and Wilde’s tender approach to much of the music also conjures up a sense of ‘sonic’ nostalgia for a bygone time.

After the Interval we are treated to perhaps one of Britten’s lesser known works “Who are these Children?”, the title being inspired by a wartime photograph of children watching a hunt through a devastated village. Britten was a composer who for the most part wore his heart on his sleeve; and although his music is at times harsh to the ear, this is juxtaposed with a firm grasp of the English musical tradition, as well as great technical control over the harmony and the instruments for which he is writing. The piece could perhaps be seen in line with other works by Britten, particularly his War Requiem. The tone of the music is grave and sincere, almost an essay on the emotional hardships of war and their effect on society, in particular through the eyes of a child. The piece is in some ways like a twisted lullaby, indeed movements are named such as Nightmare and Bedtime allude to a more innocent time. The work also calls for the tenor to use a Scottish dialect, and this is handled well by Wilde, as is the tumultuous piano part performed by Owen Norris with precise technical flair.

To end we go back to a similar world inhabited by Schubert’s Die Schone Mullerin; Robert Schumann’s Lieder from Dichertliebe sees another tortured soul wrestling with his love interests and inner turmoil, written at a time when the composer was wooing his beloved Clara. Sixteen songs in all, we hear the final seven in this recital. The songs are much more dramatic and direct than Schubert’s, and encompass perhaps a much more emotional palette. The Old Angry Songs, the finale of the work, is a beautiful and heart wrenching work, with a fantastic performance by both men, particularly in the closing bars of the work where Owen Norris manages to achieve a stillness and calmness after the journey they have been on.

An excellent performance by both men, even more so when we consider that Mark Wilde had to stand in at the last minute for Tenor Philip Langridge. The afternoon is certainly one of the festival’s great successes, an excellent tribute to Peter Pears, and a fine way to end off the weekend in style.