{TABLE} Five German Dances with Seven Trios and Coda D90............. Schubert Sextet Op 18................................................. Brahms Divertimento for Strings......................................Bartok {/TABLE} THERE was an invigorating authenticity about the Irish Chamber "Orchestra's playing at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Thursday night.
The conductor was the Austrian, Gunter Pichler, who is the founder and leader of the Alban Berg Quartet, and in recent years has become increasingly busy as a conductor. He and the ICO proved a winning combination, producing playing which was full of character, and alert both to the stylistic qualities of each piece and to nuances of expression.
The playing's tonal and dynamic variety was such that one could forgive the bass-friendly acoustic of the cathedral. Everyone knew exactly what they should be doing - the sort of discipline which liberates the players to produce truly spontaneous music making.
The concert opened with Schubert's Five German Dances with Seven Trios and Coda D90, a charming set of pieces written when the composer was just 16. Pichler's poised rubato, and the orchestra's warm sound and strong rhythm, placed this music firmly in the Austrian dance tradition which led to Johann Strauss.
I was curious as to how Brahms's Sextet Op 18, for two each of violins, violas and cellos, would fare on full strings. The arrangement, by Pichler himself, involved some judicious manipulation of the original cello parts to incorporate double basses, and on the whole it worked well.
The players clearly relished the complexity and purposefulness of Brahms's writing, and made every note count. The result was an ocean of sound, warm and warming, and surprisingly lucid.
Bartok's Divertimento for Strings thrives on strong characterisation, and that was what it got. I cannot recall hearing the slow movement played with such a quiet and creepy, almost vibrato-less sound; and there was a scintillating panache about the outer movements, from the several soloists, as well as from the full ensemble. I hope the ICO plays with Pichler again, and soon.
