Reviews

Irish Times writers give their verdicts

Collins, Iuventus String Quartet NCH John Field Room, Dublin

Martin Adams

Janacek - Quartet No 1 (Kreutzer Sonata). Dvorak - Piano Quintet in A Op 81

The Iuventus String Quartet showed its mettle in the opening work of Thursday's lunchtime concert in the National Concert Hall's John Field Room. It was startling to hear these young musicians from Britain go full-tilt at Janacek's Quartet No. 1, a work often considered to carry subtle extra-musical meaning. The strong character of the performance was reinforced by the players' pleasantly assertive manner on the platform with, for this work, the violinists and viola player standing.

Theirs was a purely musical approach - bracing, none-too-subtle, yet fearless and utterly engaging. Sometimes the playing was profoundly lyrical, but a more dominant impression was of music shaped by enormous tensions between groupings of instruments and passionately contrasted ideas. And let's face it - that is a core aspect of this piece, whatever meaning may or may not have been intended by its composer.

The playing was not quite as persuasive in Dvorak's Piano Quintet in A Op. 81, for which the quartet was joined by pianist Finghin Collins. In a joyous work that sounds best if it has an almost-effortless sparkle, everyone was trying a bit too hard and, in the outer movements at least, rhythm was hard-driven. Add to that the powerful string projection and Collins's secure and strong-toned piano playing, and some parts seemed a bit of a fight.

However, exuberance won the day, and made for a thoroughly enjoyable experience in which the beautifully played slow movement was the highlight it should be.

Gottfried Helnwein Irish and Other Landscapes Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork

Mark Ewart

Gottfried Helnwein is an artist of some repute, courting controversy with unsettling images of disfigurement and treatment of taboo subjects like that of Nazism. His profile is measured also by his portrait photographs, which feature an array of household names from the worlds of music, literature and politics.

His move into landscape subject matter is, by comparison, somewhat tame. Nevertheless, the work is still extremely ambitious, both in terms of scale and rendering - some paintings are seven metres long and all are so realistic that they are nearly indistinguishable from photographs.

Consequently they cannot fail but to strike a chord, as you marvel at the skill involved in creating such vivid and realistic landscape views. So much so that Fáilte Ireland is surely gaining free advertising, as many will be inspired to venture out and experience these places first hand.

Helnwein re-creates theses vistas using a composite of photographic sources which cram multiple focal points into a single view. The surfaces are absolutely flawless with practically no evidence of the artist's brushwork. Studying the surface is absorbing, as the viewer is immersed in the detail as much as seductive wider views of the vast, undulating topography.

But while the paintings are a wonder, part of me could not fully give in to the experience. This was down to a nagging doubt regarding the pristine paint surface, which at times seemed closer to the pixelated quality of photo-reproduction techniques.

Also, the vast tonal range of hues with their different drying times would create a more variegated finish, effecting pigment transparency. That said, Helnwein's use of a fine brush and varnish might be the techniques that help establish the illusion.

Runs until September 4th.

Sovereign Brass NCH John Field Room, Dublin

Michael Dervan

Memories are short in Earlsfort Terrace. Earlier this year, the National Concert Hall announced the presentation of its "first ever summer lunchtime series of concerts", completely ignoring an initiative in this area which it began in the 1980s, an attempt to emulate, if I remember correctly, the success of Colman Pearce's Schubert Plus Series. Those lunchtime concerts promoted by the NCH were for many years the main provision for Irish performers within the schedule of the NCH's own promotions.

This year's series opened on Wednesday with a programme by the Sovereign Brass Quintet, Colm Byrne and Eamonn Nolan (trumpets), Brian Daly (horn), Gavin Roche (trombone) and Conor O'Riordan (tuba).

The repertoire on offer was as diverse as most brass quintet recitals are these days, and consisted mostly of arrangements, ranging from the Renaissance up to Stephen Sondheim.

Of the 10 items on the programme just two were original works, the Newfoundland Sketch by Canadian composer Howard Cable (a piece from the silly end of the spectrum of light music) and Joseph Horovitz's Music Hall Suite (a work of light material spun with the greatest of sophistication).

Sophistication of delivery was not always on hand when the music required it. It's a great paradox that the kind of tuneful, jokey music that the Sovereign players chose to concentrate on often actually demands a greater finesse in performance than more weighty material.

The players on this occasion didn't always seem to have enough trust in their composers or arrangers. They fell into a rather obvious trap, rather like comedians or circus clowns who court failure by too consistently overplaying their routines.

It was in the group of four arrangements which closed the concert that Sovereign Brass found the best of their form. Here they played with a fresh injection of confidence and pizazz that almost seemed to suggest it was only by the concert's end that they had fully warmed to their task.

Series continues with a total of eight concerts up to Thursday, August 26th.