Reviews

Irish Times writers review shows by Elton John, the Liverpool Welsh Choral Society and a recital at St patrick's Cathedral in Dublin.

Elton John

The Point, Dublin

Tony Clayton-Lea

Not for Elton John the re-imagining of his back catalogue - there is no puzzling Dylanesque reinvention, no Radiohead-like deconstructing, no myth-making. You can take the man out of Middlesex, but you can't take Middlesex out of the man. Are you ready for love? Well, here it comes - in spades.

Elton has been at the top of his game since the early 1970s, and the statistics alone prove him to be one of the most popular and enduring of British pop stars of the past 40 years: he has sold more albums in the UK and US than any other British male singer; his Candle in the Wind 1997 spent a mind-boggling three years in the Canadian Top 20 (45 weeks at No 1!); he has sold more than 150 million records. In short, this is a guy - 60 next year - who doesn't need to prove anything to anyone.

Which could be the reason why John's first gig on his latest (and according to the man himself, his final) European tour was shorn of any kind of bombast. The stage backdrop was a simple digital screen that remained throughout an unengaging piece of synapse-massaging equipment. The stage itself threatened to dwarf the band, which comprised John's fellow ultra-professional journeymen - they could have been playing at Vicar Street or the Olympia, such was the compact space they took up. No finger-clicking backing singers, no brass. No strings attached.

If Elton John was making a point that the show was all about the songs, then it was well made, because he utilised a back-to-basics approach that was as much reassuring as it was salutary - when the smoke from the special effects fades into the upper reaches of the venue, if the songs aren't there you might as well stop pretending, pack up and go home.

Every song was familiar - from Tiny Dancer to Blue Eyes, from Daniel to I'm Still Standing, from The Bitch is Back to Someone Saved My Life Tonight; he ripped through the type of set-list he has been ripping through for the past 30 years, yet made it seem as if he was singing them for the first, second or third time. That's not just the mark of a master professional, but of someone who cares about audience expectation. A true blue pop star who thinks about the fans? Give that man a knighthood. He already has one, you say? Then we really think it's time he was given another.

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Bath Time

Waterfront Hall, Belfast

Jane Coyle

It's Sunday morning at the Waterfront Hall and the building is awash with small children for the Belfast Children's Festival, whose theme this year is "East and West".

On the upper galleries, workshop groups are making Chinese lanterns, flower garlands and kimonos; hoards of brightly dressed tots are queuing for Baby Bollywood in the main house, while members of the young green brigade are heading for Maria Connolly's new play, Bath Time, in the studio theatre.

In the hands of Replay, the North's theatre-in-education company, the serious and topical subject of water pollution is pitched at the generation which can really make a difference. Brother and sister Kip and Kim live in a lighthouse with their parents.

Kip is squeaky clean, timid and prissy; Kim is unwashed, lippy and doesn't give a fig for anyone or anything.

One day, at bath time, Kim is sucked down the plughole and travels along pipes, drains and sewers into the foul world that the human race has created beneath the sea.

Kip has no option but to swallow his fears and go in search of her. Through their bizarre encounters with the cartoony creatures splashing around in Diego Pitarch's bubbly set, their outlook is transformed and they vow to start caring for their environment.

Karl Wallace directs Connolly's thought-provoking but occasionally over-wordy tale with his usual dash and meticulous attention to detail, while Paul Curley, Karen Hassan, Sean-Paul O'Rawe and Jo Donnelly keep the young audience just about on board with their jolly characterisations and loony tunes.

Tours until June 24

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Liverpool Welsh Choral Union, Tallaght Choral Society/Armstrong

NCH, Dublin

Andrew Johnstone

Verdi - Requiem

Celebrating 21 years since he first took the conductor's rostrum of the National Concert Hall, Mark Armstrong led from the front in a highly charged and memorable account of Verdi's Requiem. Combining forces were the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, the Liverpool Welsh Choral Union (who initiated the event), and Armstrong's own choir the Tallaght Choral Society.

The impressively unified contributions of more than 180 newly convened voices seemed to stem not from assiduous drilling or grooming, but rather from Armstrong's sure command of the music's emotional architecture and his absolute confidence that the chorus would respond to it.

Whether plumbing depths of eternal uncertainty, or soaring to heights of terror, their singing retained a natural technical assurance that met the score's every extreme demand.

The four vocal soloists - Camilla Roberts (soprano), Deirdre Cooling-Nolan (contralto), Geraint Dodd (tenor) and Andrew Slater (bass-baritone) - sang in a uniformly full-bodied style that could be stronger on expression than on intonation.

Yet their ensemble work revealed closely shared intentions, and some notable solos included Dodd's magisterial Ingemisco and Roberts's ardently dramatic Libera me.

Though occasionally the RTÉ NSO may have overshadowed the soloists (and though some of Verdi's arpeggios may have caught the cello section off guard), there was constant alertness to Armstrong's fine balance of discipline and flexibility. In that ultimate musical wake- up call, the Tuba mirum, the brass playing was sensational.

This hasn't been the only cross-channel collaboration on Verdi's Requiem in recent months: last July, it was given by the Dyfed Choir and Carlow Choral Society. And next Sunday, the Tallaght choristers travel to Liverpool for a reciprocal performance, this time with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of the Welsh Choral Union's musical director, Keith Orrell.

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O'Byrne, Dunne, Boushell, Supple, Guinness Choir and Orchestra/Milne

St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin

Michael Dungan

Mozart - Coronation Mass. Haydn - Nelson Mass

The Guinness Choir, which in the past 18 months has risen to the considerable challenges of both Verdi's Requiem and Bach's B Minor Mass in notable concerts at the Church of the Holy Child in Whitehall, found themselves in difficulties and falling a long way short of their potential in this concert.

Dominating the performance was the venue's cavernous acoustic and the decision to pack the choir into the chancel instead of across the top of the nave.

This resulted in the singing of the 100-plus voices being reduced to a vague wash of remote and disconnected sound, with three-quarters or more of the detail in masses by Mozart and Haydn disappearing up into the roof of the cathedral. The basses and altos were mostly completely inaudible.

It's likely the singers also had problems hearing each other and the orchestra. This might explain a lack of rhythmic commitment and cohesion that constantly menaced conductor David Milne with the threat of breakdown.

And alas, the sopranos, the only choral line that could actually be heard with any consistency, were flat almost throughout. This just was not the choir's night.

The line-up of soloists was indicative of the Guinness Choir's commitment to "supporting emerging Irish talent". Alto Alison Dunne and tenor Andrew Boushell - both BMus students at the DIT Conservatory - have nicely developing voices ready to blossom in the coming years. Bass-baritone Eoin Supple, a member of the National Chamber Choir, blended easily in ensemble passages but could afford to bring more colour to his solos.

Soprano Anne O'Byrne's experience stood out in this context, although she seemed to misjudge her volume and sang rather loudly when it wasn't always needed.

That said, her delicate, sweetly-phrased solo in the Mozart's Agnus Dei was the most effective music-making of the night.