NCH John Field Room, Dublin
Dukas– Fanfare to La Peri. Andre Previn– Four Outings for Brass. Bernstein– Dance Suite. Jim Parker– The Golden Section.
One of the many pleasing aspects of this concert for brass quintet was that the programme consisted entirely of works written for brass. So many concerts feature arrangements, and however good they might be, they cannot match the authenticity of music conceived for this distinctive sound.
Dublin Brass Quintet's programme opened with the earliest piece, the fanfare that Dukas wrote to precede his ballet La Péri(1912). It was loud – as befits an attention-call for the audience before the unusually quiet beginning of that orientalist fantasy.
Andre Previn's Four Outings for Brasswere written in 1974 for the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. Drawing on styles from blues to Kurt Weill, this is clever stuff, in which a somewhat glitzy surface hides a wealth of subtle and serious thought. Bernstein's Dance Suitewas written shortly before his death in 1990. It too is clever, but the brevity of its five movements tend to suggest lack of sustaining power rather than conciseness.
In almost every respect, Jim Parker's The Golden Sectionwas perhaps the most impressive pieces on the programme. The ever-versatile Parker is known for concert works, for film and television scores, and for the now-classic 1970s recordings of his music accompanying John Betjeman's recitations of his own poetry. In this 1993 work, written for the Wallace Collection, Parker achieves an impeccable match between ideas, form and scoring. As with all the items on the programme, the playing sometimes could have done with more finesse of balance and shaping, but it was consistently engaging, enjoyable, and – especially in the Parker – a breath of fresh air.
