Reviews

Irish Times writers review Idlewild at the Ambassador in Dublin and Michael Dervan reviews Eckart Schwarz-Schulz (cello), NSO/William Eddins at the National Concert Hall.

Idlewild

Ambassador, Dublin

Despite a sound that is defiantly "now", the ghosts of many bands wander through the music of Idlewild - Big Country, Simple Minds, Psychedelic Furs.

These influences may have been subsumed into the modern chug of punk rock, and the band may not even be consciously aware of them, but the sound of ever-so-slightly disaffected youth circa 1986 (think soundtrack to St Elmo's Pink Breakfast Club) obtrudes from Idlewild's music like the mask of surliness worn by a free spirit stuck in school detention all day.

As the band delivered their set - striking a balance between their recent album The Remote Part and material from their previous releases Hope Is Important and 100 Broken Windows - a sense of dynamic sameness began to descend on the proceedings, and the sound struggled to break free from the homogenous wash, partly the fault of a PA that made the gig sound like it was taking place underwater, partly due to the lack of variety and nuance in the delivery of the songs.

When the occasional melody or lyric did struggle free, it merely reinforced the impression of a band wrestling with the incongruity of cutting-edge style and retro-laden substance. Couple that with the mediocre energy levels of those onstage, and it was clear Idlewild were not going to win any awards for this gig.

Except perhaps the award for the most gratuitous use of strobe lights in a live setting.

The near-constant flash of strobes throughout the gig seemed to represent a concession on the band's part of their own ordinariness, and an attempt to compensate for a lack of focal interest onstage. Visually, the show could not have been more bland, with guitarists Rod Jones and Allan Stewart, singer Roddy Woomble and bassist Gavin Fox ranging from left to right in the standard rock poses, rooted to their respective spots for the entire show, and at times even appearing self-conscious and uncomfortable.

The barrages of strobes accompanying every chorus and noisy middle-eight of every song - an attempt to charge the gig with moments of heightened intensity - were, in the end, too overused and underwhelming to have much of an impact.

On record, Idlewild have steadily progressed from their young, punky origins to a more thoughtful, evolved sound; on stage, they seemed like a band stuck in a punk moment with no idea how to get out of it.

Review by John Lane

Eckart Schwarz-Schulz (cello), NSO/William Eddins

National Concert Hall

Empire States ......................................................... Deirdre Gribbin

Cello Concerto No 1 ........................................................... Milhaud

Symphony No 9 in C (Great) ............................................ Schubert

There's a fair amount of debate these days about the presentation of classical music. Orchestras in tails have come in for criticism, though formal dress is still de rigueur for other occasions, such as weddings, which touch people deeply. Video screens have been used to add to the visual impact of recitals, and there are performers, like Dublin's Crash Ensemble, who treat lighting and video as normal parts of the concert presentation.

Belfast-born composer Deirdre Gribbin not only brought in a theatre team (director Lou Stein and lighting designer Jeff Ravitz) for her new RTÉ orchestral commission, Empire States, at the NCH on Friday, but also dressed musicians and conductor up in specially-designed T-shirts.

These are a problematic gestures. What they change is clear, but what they meaningfully add is not. The risk is of raising unspecific expectations without providing a clear benefit. And, in the case of Empire States, the combination of lighting aimed at a new audience and a programme note that's likely to be impenetrable even to die-hards, takes some explaining.

By comparison, the piece itself is plain sailing, post-minimalist in feel, with a distinct American flavour. Gribbin spent the year 2000 in New York, and concerns about the "American Dream", as embodied in the Empire State Building, lie behind the title.

The piece blends straightforward tunes with a more disturbing undertow, and is at all times fashioned with a sharp ear for sonority. Conductor William Eddins handled it with persuasive panache.

Milhaud's First Cello Concerto of 1934 is one of those works that, at around a quarter of an hour, is always likely to prove problematic for contemporary programming tastes. The markings for the three movements say it all - Nonchalant, Grave, and Joyeux - the songful first movement and jaunty finale contrasting starkly with the severe slow movement, and its evocations of Milhaud's earlier jungle music. Soloist Eckart Schwarz-Schulz, the NSO's principal cellist, dealt sensitively and stylishly with the work's demands.

William Eddins took an outgoing view of Schubert's Great C major Symphony, giving the music its head without blunting its expressive force, and steering well clear of the respectful understatement that Schubert's grandest orchestral gesture sometimes provokes. There was an invigorating spirit in the playing and the audience responded to it in kind.

Review by Michael Dervan